Among the top questions you will confront as a course creator is, how should I create a course? Every new course creator faces a burning question, which course should I create first?

As someone who has been in the course creation trenches for years, it’s the number one question my students ask me. Sometimes they ask, “How do I start?” At other times, “Where do I start?” So, how should a course creator create a course?

As a beginner learning how to create courses years back, albeit offline, it was the same question I asked my teachers. It took me years of trial and error to master the skill. Not just trial and error, I attended train the trainer programs. Along the line I also attended advanced train the trainer programs.

Not only that, I joined NITAD (Nigerian Institute of Training and Development) and the then ASTD (American Society for Training and Development), now ATD (Association for Talent Development). I attended conferences, read books and launched training programs until I became proficient. Till date, I’m still learning.

Creating courses online for the web is a whole new experience and you have to learn certain aspects from the scratch. Moving from unconscious incompetence to conscious competence takes time. As a course creator learning to create digital products, you need help if you want to succeed at scale.

According to Wikipedia, the “conscious competence” learning model, relates to the psychological states involved in the process of progressing from incompetence to competence in a skill. According to this model, a learner passes through four stages: unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence and unconscious competence.

Unconscious competence is the stage you can carry out a task without thinking about it. Doing the task becomes second nature. You’re so good others regard you as a magician, and even a guru. As a guru, learners come to you to teach them, or impart your wisdom to them. You can charge money for imparting your knowledge to others.

Peter Drucker, however, once said the word “charlatan” was too difficult to pronounce, so people invented the word “guru”. The world today is full of gurus in flowing flowery robes from all over the world, thanks to the IN-TER-NET. In short, the web.

Gurus teach everything, from herding cats, to fly-fishing, and the biggest of all, how to make money online. The guru and the “top online trainer”, Brendon Burchard, called teaching online the “expert industry.” Brendon in his Millionaire Messenger, identified the ten most lucrative teaching segments as, Motivation Advice, Leadership Advice, Financial Advice, Business Advice, Marketing Advice, Relationship Advice, Spiritual Advice, Style Advice, Productivity Advice, and Health Advice (including weight loss).

Selling online courses is so huge it’s projected to reach $527billion by 2027. Thousands are pouring into the space yearly to taste a little of the cake. Course fee ranges from $7 for a “Free” eBook (pay for shipping only) to $10,000 personal coaching programs. On average, $27 to $450 fee range is for entry to mid-tier courses.  

In 2021 a top online course guru, Marisa Murgatroyd, raised an alarm that only 3% of people who buy courses online finish such courses. A huge failure rate of 97%. Were a school to score such a huge failure rate anywhere in the world, a commission of enquiry would have been set up to investigate. That is not the case online.

The reason for the huge failure rate is because 99.99% of course creators (gurus) do not know their left from their right. They are what Peter Drucker called charlatans. They succeed by being expert in writing captivating “sales letters”, “Video Sales Letters”, pilling on “BONUSES” and giving ironclad “Money Back Guarantees.” Unsuspecting students fall into these traps. I have been a victim.

According to the Dreyfus Model, the five levels of competence are, Novice, Advanced beginner, Competent, Proficient, Expert. The “expert” course creators are technical “experts”. They know how to set up their sales funnels to suck in customers. They measure their success based on the number of customers and their bank balance, not on the success of their students. That is what Marisa Murgatroyd was ranting against.   

If a course is not able to cover the 10% gap it promised, it has failed. The guru, Ramit Sethi, of Learnable fame, has a saying, “do not try to be 30 until you’re 30.” A course that promises heaven on earth is a fraud. A typical course should be pitched at three levels: Basic, Intermediate and Advanced. Those with advanced knowledge can be taken further to Mastery through Master Classes.

Learning is about gaining know-how and not about information. The four levels of know-how are, knowing how to implement, knowing how to improve, knowing how to integrate and knowing how to disseminate. Dissemination is about teaching others. You can’t teach others unless you master the four types of knowledge, knowing about things, knowing how to do things, knowing how to become yourself and knowing how to achieve things with others. A lot of the web-based training piles up information, and humour students with cheat-sheets, hacks, and questionnaires that add salt to injury.   

As Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline, pointed out, “Learning has very little to do with taking in information. Learning instead, is a process that is about enhancing capacity. Learning is about building the capability to create that which you previously couldn’t create. It’s ultimately related to action, which information is not.”

In 2020, I created Online Course Creator Community For Newbies And Advance Beginners (OCCCNA) on Facebook to share skills on how to create courses the right way. The group today boasts over 13,600 members. In the same year I created iBMC (Internet Business Mastery Course) and the majority of the students wanted to learn “how to create online courses. The course teaches newbies and advanced beginners how to create courses the right way.

Yesterday, Peter Shunn, an OCCCNA member, shared this in the group, “Course Creators, I have been asked how I can teach someone to create a sellable online course in only 30 days.” Peter then went on to explain what he would do, “The most significant difference of How To Create An Online Course That Sells is that the emphasis is on simplicity.”

So, to answer the question, “As a newbie which course should you create first?”, bear the following in mind. Learners are different so one size does not fit all. Accordingly, let’s try not to be too prescriptive. The best approach is to base our recommendations on principles. Here are the principles that should guide your journey as a newbie course creator.

The three questions critical to any training program development are:

• What content should I include?
• How should I teach and deliver the content?
• How can I ensure that the training is working (that is, that trainees learn the content)?

The following should guide what you include:

• Nice to know
• Need to know
• Must Know

The five stages in the training cycle are:

• Prepare the learner
• Present the information
• Practice the activity
• Provide feedback
• Provide opportunities for integrating

Apply the following instructional methods

• Lecture
• Demonstration
• Case study
• Simulation
• Panel discussion
• Accountability partners & Groups
• Practice sessions

Note that people learn in different ways, so include the three core learning styles:

• Visual
• Auditory
• Kinesthetic

The key learning variables you should never forget are:

• Appeal to All Learning Styles
• Motivate the Learners
• Facilitate for Success

Note that there is a difference between learning, education, training and development. Each serves a different purpose so design your approach, covering the following accordingly:

• Course Materials
• Course Methods
• Trainer Styles
• Learner Expectations

The course you should create first is the one that will provide the student or learner the most benefit. This will depend on the available time and the student’s need or level of existing skill. Avoid piling up contents and extending course duration so you can charge more. Your guarantee and bonuses for all intents and purposes serve no purpose but to deceive students. Absent trust, your online course business will not endure.