Are You Teaching Online Courses?

I honestly believe that if you have knowledge, experience, and insight into a particular area, you are morally obligated to share it with others who would benefit from learning about it from you. Back when I was a classroom teacher I worked with adults who were not willing to share what they knew. I struggled with the new technology in those days and found it difficult to believe that other teachers would not be helpful at all. I promised myself that whenever I figured something out I would be the person who would share my knowledge with anyone who needed it. Little did I know back then that teaching online courses would be a part of my life.

Once I came online I found a world filled with natural teachers. People were more than willing to share their knowledge, their experiences, and their insights on a variety of topics.  It’s interesting to me that I had to leave the classroom and public education in order to surround myself with people who love and value education in the way that I do.

Teaching online can take many shapes and formats, and I have explored them all at one time or another over the past decade. Teaching online courses, both live and in home study have become my favorite way of sharing information with people all over the world. You can do the same thing, no matter what your area of expertise. There are always people somewhere who want and need to learn about your topics.

Start by hosting free teleseminars where you answer questions and share your knowledge. Create a short study guide listeners can print out for further reference. From these, choose the topics that the most people were interested in and then begin creating and teaching online courses on these.

I begin by writing an outline and making notes about what I will teach. Then I do some research to flesh out any parts of my outline that might be incomplete. Then I write a blog post on the topic to share with visitors to my site. I ask for comments so that I can open the conversation and find out more about what people wish to learn. That conversation continues on the social media sites, as well as with replies to my daily email messages. Within a few days I have enough feedback to begin writing my course. I divide my content into three or four sections or parts before moving forward with this part of the process.

I then create a slide deck that contains all of the information I will be teaching in my online course. I tend to work on this intensely for several days, then I go back to make sure I have included everything I want to teach, have omitted anything that is not relevant to my topic, and to put the slides in a logical order.

What topics could you teach and share with others? While I was a classroom teacher I knew that a student had mastered a topic when they were able to successfully convey it to someone else. I believe we are all natural teachers and that teaching is a valuable part of our life experience. Take a look at my training program on teaching online courses to get started right away.

I’m Connie Ragen Green, online marketing strategist, bestselling author, and international speaker on the topics of entrepreneurship and inner game mind shifts. Let’s connect to see how I may best serve you in the near future.