How to Start Online Classes : Step by Step guide

In order to successfully launch online classes for your students, you will need to have expertise in information technology, software development, and design. This article is going to be your saviour if you are wondering how to start online classes without having those skills, as it will provide you with the answers you need.

If you have never offered a course through the internet before, the entire process may appear to be quite intimidating to you. There is just a tonne of work to be done, from conducting research on your competitors to communicating with your ideal customers to developing a product that is marketable. If you follow this step-by-step guide, rather than feeling lost and wondering how to proceed, you will know exactly what to do.

Higher education and the cultivation of skills are undergoing continuous change in this age of the internet. Recently, new doors have opened in India for those interested in starting an online education company. Because new ground is being broken with online courses, venture capitalists and startup companies now have a fertile environment in which to cultivate innovative concepts for the future of education.

If certain logistical requirements are met, launching an online education company in India has the potential to become one of the most lucrative business endeavours in the country.

Step by Step guide : How to Start Online Classes

Beginners’ Steps

Validate Your Course Idea

The primary objective of validating your concept is to provide an answer to the question “how would you evaluate demand before investing your time and effort into creating your course?”

Before beginning the real process of putting your concept into action, you will need to do extensive research in order to validate it. You have to find out in advance if it exists and how far it reaches. After some time has passed, you should then solicit the opinions of reliable individuals. There is a widespread propensity among aspiring businesspeople to experience the phenomenon known as “idea lock.” When you are at the point where you are completely committed to your notion, regardless of what the opinions of others are, it is time to reevaluate.

If you think that your suggestion has potential, you should create a model of the intended path. Check to see whether you’ll continue to make use of it if you begin developing a brand around it. Last but not least, you need to devise a strategy for how you will entice prospective students to enrol in your class and take advantage of its many benefits.

Content Mediums

Create an overview of the many content creation and delivery methods available. The distribution mechanism is a crucial factor in deciding the sort of internet content. For instance, if your main models are ad hoc online classes, you must develop multimedia course material to completely engage students from a variety of industries. However, whether your models resemble educational partnerships, flipped classrooms, or MOOCs, it is entirely dependent on your intended audience and the goal you are attempting to accomplish.

Live Online Video Content of Superior Quality

The recording of one’s own films as a sort of virtual lectures is an integral component of modern marketing communications. Videos are vital to a well-rounded marketing strategy, and missing this chance will only hinder your potential to impact your target audience.

You may provide a portion of your recorded lectures for free online through YouTube or as a bonus chapter. Home video production does not need an expensive studio setup costing thousands of dollars. While creating video material, you may use some hacks and acquire just the required equipment. Here are a few things you may want to consider:

Production and screenplay drafting
Useful types of equipment
Obtaining the optimal lighting
Audio considerations
Postproduction alterations
Offering it online

Here is a guide on how to capture online video lectures at home; you may consult it for further information.

Alternatively, if you just want to teach online LIVE, you may do so here.

ScreenFlow/Tracking of Change Walkthrough

A complete ScreenFlow tour of the Table of Content provides students with an overview of the course structure. If the intended audience is healthy, it will have a beneficial effect on evaluating students.

Market and LMS Evaluations

Udemy and Coursera are markets with significant restrictions. On the other side, LMS such as Graphy, Teachable, etc. are excellent for constructing an online education company empire.

Selling and Hosting Your Course

The next step is to choose whether you want your own branded online course website or if you want to offer on marketplaces. Graphy is a learning management system that enables individuals to sell via their own branded websites using simple course-building tools.

If you want to be competitive in your profession, you should choose an LMS. Before selecting an LMS, you must evaluate the top three factors.

Create Effective Course Materials

In today’s society, technology is the least of your concerns. There are several tools and platforms available to assist you with this aspect.

This article would concentrate more on a summary of content development.

First, begin online courses identify your exercise objectives

The objective of your online course launch should be very clear. Determine the business measure and the effect you want the courses to have. If you are an established firm, you may take online courses for many reasons. One of the reasons may be to instruct your customers on how to utilise certain tools, for instance.

Alternatively, if you are in the education industry, you may provide online programmes to educate pupils outside the classroom. Clarify it at the very first stage.

The three elements that must be defined in the first stage.

Define the financial and non-financial development results that you anticipate your courses will bring to your company.
Define the instructional objectives behind the launch of your course. Whether to assist your consumers in mastering a tool, instruct them on a topic, or assist them in using your goods more effectively, you should provide instructional materials.
Educational objectives: You must describe precisely what your students will accomplish at the conclusion of the course.

Step 2: Create course outlines

Create folders and subfolders containing subjects and subtopics for the whole module. When designing the whole module, keep the learning aim in mind.

Put yourself in the shoes of your students and choose the most efficient order for your course material. Plan a variety of material formats that will be more engaging. Educators who produce audiovisual material such as films or who give online live courses have clearly observed more student participation.

Once module planning is complete, develop a preliminary delivery schedule for the content. Make careful to record them.

Step 3: Build your online course content

The actual work begins at this stage.

At this stage, you would begin generating online course material. However, the procedure need not be lengthy.

Information Origin

Compile all the facts you have gathered up to the present time.

Collect Created Content

Consider carefully and collect the stuff you have previously created. All PowerPoint presentations, digital copies, training manuals, pre-recorded films, product demonstrations, support articles, and other forms of information must be assembled.

Organize

Now is the time to arrange these components cohesively. Do not get overwhelmed by the excessive number of files you have collected. It may result in distraction. Hence, make your material accurate. Choose just those resources that fit with your learning goals.

Update

Determine the material you will need to update or create from scratch after your content has been sorted.

Create an inclusive curriculum in an effort to engage a variety of learning styles in order to reach new active learners.

Step 4: Engage your target learners

Now that you have completed the bulk of building online courses, it is time to distribute them to your audience. You must plan how to present your course to your students successfully. The accessibility of your course’s material is just as vital. If students cannot access your course, they will never be able to see its material.

By “accessibility,” we refer to the initial interaction a student has with the course. It might be the link to the course or a landing page. Structure the process of determining your purchase route in a manner that is intuitive and rich with value.

You have several alternatives for facilitating online course access for your students:

Email the link to the course
Integrate the link into your website
Share the links on your social networks.
Include the link in the materials used by your students.
Send the course access link by text message.
Include the URL into a conversation channel.

Enable the aforementioned choices to present the course to your audience, depending on the sort of course platform you pick.

step 5 Measure the engagement metrics


Once the learners have bought the online course, use your dashboard to monitor their progress and other data. Typically, solutions like Graphy offer educators with a robust sales dashboard.

Calculate the metrics.
Utilize them for course feedback and assessment.
Enhance your performance as you go.
Consider your first group of students as a sample of students who will provide feedback on the program’s flow. Whether the training progression is logical or if they experience hiccups during online classes. Obtaining their comments would allow you to improve the software before to its formal release.

If any technical issues arise at this point, you may inform the service provider to have them resolved. You will have ample time to improvise and upload improved content if your microphone did not function properly or the video recording was shaky. Additionally, you may build traction by doing the following:

Pricing and Reductions

You should provide discounts and subscription revenue models when pricing your course. Conduct research to see how the leaders in your sector are performing. Consider your intended market’s purchasing power, and price your products accordingly.

Multiple Items and Bundling

You may offer numerous courses separately or as a bundle. This assists the development of an online education firm.

Internet Promotion & Marketing

If you want to sell online, you must also establish a technique for evaluating prospective students online. Your digital marketing plan must consist of the following elements:

Advertising
Personal selling
Lead Development
Relationships with the media
Direct advertising
Promote your online coaching organisation

Starting a firm in the online education industry needs substantial study and commitment. However, the hard effort and hustling are worthwhile. In terms of teaching a large population at affordable costs, it may be highly lucrative and satisfying.

Deliver live online courses to your students

The ed-tech landscape has become so saturated with buzzwords that it is sometimes difficult to grasp its meaning. Conducting live online courses is one of the most prevalent trends in the education sector.

The virtual classroom or online live classes bring students from around the world together under one virtual roof. The lessons are quite engaging. It drastically reduces travel time and on-site instruction costs.

The virtual classroom is a one-stop shop for live instruction, question-and-answer sessions, and enhanced user interaction. Live classes cover all aspects of creating and managing the teaching-learning process.

Traditional Classroom Vs Virtual Classroom

Although both types of teaching methods share a similar objective, their presentation and scope are distinct. Both types of classrooms aim to unite teachers and students under one roof.

On the one hand, the traditional classroom physically brings both parties together in the same room. Participation occurs physically face-to-face, with participants interacting while aware of their physical surroundings.

On the other hand, the same group of participants assembles under a technologically-enabled online roof where the entire classroom attends the class from different locations.

Although the traditional classroom is more interactive, the same level of engagement can be achieved through live online classes using a robust LMS such as Graphy.