Let’s say you have a unique online course idea and the idea is awesome. However, taking it to the learner demands a lot more. You need to work on the framework, the layout, and probably talk to a subject expert. But the most important aspect is knowing your learner.
The success of online courses depends on the rate of retention and the rate of completion and also adding value to a learner’s profile. But an important challenge is to develop a framework that could meet the expectations of the learner. And the key to this is knowing the learner well.
To develop and deliver a successful online course we should consider following aspects:
1. The Learner
Knowing the learner, their ability, age, demography, gender, education level, professional status and reasons to pursue the course. The clearer the picture about your learner the better can you deliver and market your course.
2. Pricing
Ensuring that the pricing of the courses is within the budget of the learner is a crucial component of online course design. Over-pricing might end up to dampening the marketability of the course and under-pricing could impact the brand value. Pricing should be decided in relation to the market trends and demand for the particular type of courses.
It is all about push and pull concept, the price should be well balanced between convincing and attracting someone to pay. Convincing someone is tough to pay an x amount but the convincing becomes easy when it is attractive.
3. Time
Another important aspect, which is mostly overlooked while identifying the target audience, is the time your audience can devote. You have a rich and elaborate content, but, what if your learner does not have enough time to complete the sessions and submit the assessments? A targeted study of the potential learners and their time constraints is important in designing and delivering the course.
4. Support
While launching a course, adequate and appropriate support material and contact information should be provided so that touch points are maintained and the possibility of learners dropping out of the course is minimised. Whether learners select a course by choice or in order to fulfil an external compulsory requirement, they require support of various kinds such as accessibility of concepts, assignment, grading, and technical aspects.
Understanding the learner’s background and ability to access the course, facilities, the support guidelines and setups can be planned better to ensure quick resolution of issues that crop up for the learner.
5. Learning Level
While developing the course we often consider the eligibility criteria or basic requirements, but often we lose track of that as the course progresses. Subject experts and may make courses jargon-ridden, making it difficult for the learners to access the material or even complete the course.
Having details about the learner’s learning ability, and their academic and professional background helps us design the content in a consistent manner, catering to the needs of the specific audience and meeting the expectations of the learner while joining the course.
6. Challenge
Online education is over a decade old now. But motivating someone to join an online course is still a challenge, especially in an adult learning framework. Most of the learners are working professionals with a busy schedule.
The one significant factor that motivates a learner to enrol for an online course is the aspirational value it might give to a learner. Flexibility and the freedom to learn the in the way the one prefers to during hours that one is comfortable with are what make online courses desirable. If your course design forces someone to radically change their prior commitments and schedules, that is clear recipe for failure.
7. Outcomes
Presenting the outcome can only happen, once we have understood the challenges a learner face. Our objectives should be such that it serves the challenge, for example, make a learner feel confident about a skill, monetary raise at work, professional growth, status and achieving a life-long aim to complete studies.
Online learners are from several walks of life, a variety of backgrounds, and come with many different objectives in mind. A course should cater to such multiple audiences and their multiple demands. Accommodating the learner’s needs and the learners’ perspective are the very first steps in a successful course design.
ashutoshtaunk 