Is anyone else tired of seeing, “I made 7K in my online course!” on every social media feed?
These days, education is big business.
Earn 7K in two weeks!
Increase your passive income!
Make a blockbuster course in three easy steps!
Most of these people who are selling these courses aren’t educators. They’re playing on our desire (old as time and the snake oil salesmen) to get rich quick. They’re riding the gravy train of the latest hot ticket. Who wouldn’t want to sit back and watch 7K roll in without lifting a finger?
But crappy education is still crappy education. And here’s the truth: if you create a lousy course, it will undermine your brand and your reputation.
Most of these “three-step-processes to create your course” are focused on how you get your information out; but very little about how the students get the information in. As a result, there are a lot of really, really bad courses out there, all creating this white noise called “education” when they’re really not. See why this is a problem.
There is an art to education. And it’s not in a three-step process.
I am passionate about education and see it as a pathway to human evolution, tolerance, and kindness. That’s one of the reasons that I spent three years earning my Masters in Instructional Design while I was working a full-time job. I’m a huge fan of the modern proliferation of modern education. We can now disseminate knowledge quickly and globally. Mobile phones make it possible for those without a computer to participate (amazing!). We have access to almost any information we need at our fingertips.
But there is an art to education.It’s not just what you teach, it’s how you teach it. And the art of instructional design has a deep and rich history that has been studied, explored and refined for hundreds of years. If you really want to support your students’ growth (and improve your own reputation as an expert), you want to create a course that is fundamentally sound. Not one that sounds like a sales pitch.
Don’t add to the white noise.
Add to the orchestra.
Don’t create a crappy get-rich-quick course.
Create a smart, transformational, and get-more-rich-over-time course.
Over time, an excellent course will provide an additional source of revenue, bolster your leadership and most importantly, support the growth and knowledge of your community.
That is something worth sharing.
