For a student’s success, the course taken, and the site must be well designed and well manged. A lot of time and effort goes into designing courses, so mistakes are costly. In this post, we will discuss how to design a successful and engaging course.
Establish a timeline
First and foremost, determine a timeline for designing the course.
There is no minimum or maximum process time when developing an online course, we suggest taking as much time as you need as most instructors report feeling rushed. There are many factors that can delay the process such as content repurposing, illness, excessive workload etc. If working alone, we recommend minimum 6 months.
Simplicity and navigability.
Nothing can operate smoothly if there is no co- ordination. Simplicity is prioritising essential information or discarding non-essential content. Navigable as in a consistent structure that clearly clarifies student activities and displays student responsibilities.
This can be done in many ways e.g., create separate modules for each topic in a course, arrange in chronological order, outline steps, list out weekly to- dos etc.
Outline Your Goals
Know your objectives, define, and address your target audience, and tailor your course to achieve your desired goals. E.g., if your course is targeted towards the beauty service industry, you should address all professionals of the industry that may visit your site.
To differentiate multiple groups you may be addressing, use colourful elements like background colours, font colour etc.
Colour palette
Choose a colour scheme and stick to it. This creates a consistent brand image. Elements such as headers, call to action buttons should be edited as the hues of the colour palette for a consistent theme and look.
We recommend neutral colours, i.e., example blue (associated with intelligence, stability, trustworthiness etc.), green (associated with calmness, goodluck etc.), brown (associated with practicality, warmness, vintage).
Media Elements
Media content has proven to enhance said courses and make the learning process more interactive.
Here is an overview of the most favourable features:
Audio/visual streaming
Video demonstrations are a good way of delivering lessons, but webinars are better as they are live and allow learners to ask questions and receive feedback in real time. Text- typing, audio and video streaming functionality are a must.
Interactive (whiteboard) screen
Including an interactive “whiteboard”, where both the instructor and student share their screen, draw, type text, or upload images in real-time, adds a gamification element and improves cooperation. Be sure to include tools such as an eraser, highlighter, zoom in/out etc perpetuates better learning.
Personal account
Personal accounts ensure easy and safe logins, progress tracking, saving course material etc.
Whether your course is free, paid or mixed, the user’s purchase records can be kept within their account. Like many businesses today, you can give your users the option of saving their payment details on their accounts to make transaction quick and easy.
Internal communication system
Building an internal chat for instructors and students will help in solving any issues regarding lessons that may arise. Having direct communication between instructors and students create a sense of community. As a result, this will increase brand loyalty.
Mobile compatibility
According to Ambient Insight, in 2020 mobile learning services and products brought in a revenue of $14.5 billion and saw a growth of 11.3%
We strongly recommend having a responsive design to expand your courses to all audiences. If this isn’t possible, consider a mobile an app. Being mobile friendly enhances SEO as having a single URL allows Google’s crawlers to analyse quicker and create a more rapid loading time. A quicker loading time equals a higher ranking in search engines.
Though here at BrandedCourses we design your entire course, we cannot do so without your input. How else are we supposed to create the course of your dreams! For more information, contact us here!
