Issue #5: The network
"Curiosity creates connections."
Happy May!
This month, I've mostly been getting stuck into the On Deck Course Creators (ODCC) Fellowship. Besides building my knowledge on online course creation and delivery, I've also connected with talented ODCC fellows currently contributing to the EdTech sector in exciting ways.
Here are some of them:
Dominic Zijlstra is building Traverse, a web app that lets you learn new skills faster. Using his knowledge of metacognition and neuroscience, he's created an opinionated approach to picking up new skills quicker.
Charlotte Crowther is building MySnapshot, a tool that enables students to benchmark their competency against the framework and objectives of a course.
Dhaval Trivedi, (ex-Unacademy engineering lead) is building Airtribe, a platform for cohort-based courses.
Merott Movahedi is building Xebel, a platform for cohort-based courses. Every week, he curates, summarises and shares three pieces of content in his Course Creators Weekly newsletter.
Chris Samiullah is building CourseMaker, an online course builder for technical course authors.
Pablo Simko is building Coleap, a business-in-a-box solution that lets you set up and run engaging online learning communities.
The best thing about cohort-based courses is not just the learning opportunity. It's the chance to create relationships with people on the same journey as you.
Here's what I want to share with you this month:
Setting up the infrastructure for your online course: When creating your first online course, there are two things you must consider: content and infrastructure. The latter is becoming a lot more complicated to manage with the increasing popularity of cohort-based online courses. Here's my essay on what tools you need to get in place before running your first online course.
In case you missed it:
How do I price my first online course?: At the beginning of your course creation journey, making a profit serves one purpose before any other: validation. Here's my essay on how you should figure out what to charge for your first online course.
How do I find an audience for my online course?: If you've already tried to create your online course, you'll know that it's not a simple case of "build it, and they will come". Here's my essay on how you could adopt a better approach, which involves finding your audience first.
Thanks for reading. Until next month.