I’ve been slowly prying the lid off an online course I’m developing for writers to build their brand online, and am concerned about one thing:
I want my course to truly help people reach their goals, not just make them feel good about taking the course.
This has me considering how people learn, not just how to get them to buy my course. There is a distinct difference here.
There has been a tidal wave of “information products” on the web, from eBooks to forums to webinars to classes. Some of them are really cool, and some seem to be exercises in “conversion rates” and online sales. Some are “all about the launch,” after which, they begin preparing for releasing their next product.
But what happens after the purchase is what matters most. How effective is this course in shaping people’s lives? This is where knowledge turns to education, and education turns to a true affect on people’s lives, and through them, the world.
Did you go to college pursuing “a degree,” or did you pursue knowledge? Now that you are in the professional world, are you exercising the brand name of the college (eg: “I have an MFA from Brand X University”) or are you exercising the knowledge, turning thought into action; idea into reality?
The knowledge alone is often useless without integrating it with other knowledge, with other skills, with ideas, with other people, with the right time and place.
I want my course to help people, and this requires something more than delivering knowledge. It involves working together towards goals, through stumbling blocks, through the emotional mine field of stretching ourselves beyond our normal limits.
A teacher doesn’t deliver information. A teacher is a partner, someone who is learning as much from the student as the student is learning from them.
That is what I strive for as I build this course, and it’s been an interesting process. Hope you come with me on the journey…
I’ll be sharing more information on the course very soon.
Thank you!
-Dan