I’ve been following Penny Mondani of Penny For Your Thoughts for some time now. She has written an article on how to create a course outline. You will find that this article is a very useful tool to help you focus on creating your instructional product. Check out Penny’s article here.
A Good Take On How To Write Course Outlines
August 21st, 2010An Addition To The Family
August 1st, 2010No, I’m not a grandfather yet. I just thought that I’d let you know that there is a new blog in Net Learning Solutions Inc library. I am now writing a blog entitled Teaching Your Kid. It is written for parents who want to teach their kids life skills that are not taught in school. Please check it out and leave a comment or two. Better yet, subscribe to it.
Writing three blogs(plus designing courses) does take up a lot of my time, but you can be assured that I will continue to update Money In Your Jeans on a regular basis.
Assessing The Need
July 25th, 2010Is there a need for your proposed educational product? How big is your niche market? Will your product serve the needs of the market?
The Needs Analysis
- The first step in analyzing whether or not a market exists is to do a Google search of all relevant terms of your chosen topic. Make a list of all words, sentences, synonyms (even antonyms). Search these words to see how they rank. Is there a market?
- Find out where your potential customers are. Search for forums related to your search terms. Join the forums, but don’t try to sell your product or idea (most forums have strict policies against self promotion). Ask questions, post comments, but don’t sell.
- Once you’ve found your potential clients, analyze their needs. What are they asking? What are their needs and wants?
- Make a list, a chart, etc of your findings. What have you learned? Is there a need for your product? Do you have to reconsider your approach?
These are but a few of the questions that you must ask before you start designing your product. What is the sense of creating something without knowing what your market needs and wants? What might seem as a good idea to you might not have any appeal to your target audience. Simply put, you have to do your homework.
Subscribe to this Money In Your Jeans to learn more about designing educational products:
Finding Your Niche
July 11th, 2010The biggest mistake that educational product designers make is that they try to be everything to everybody. They don’t focus on a particular niche market. Let me give you an example: I spent twenty-five years in the field of drivers’ ed; many people consider me an expert in this area. When I decided to blog about driver safety, I surveyed the internet to see what was being written about drivers’ ed. I soon realized that parents are left to their own devices when it comes to coaching their kids after they’ve taken driving lessons. Teach Your Kid How To Drive targets this particular niche market.
What is your niche market? Narrow down your topic by going to Google Blog Search. Once you’ve narrowed your options you can then start focusing your energies on your work.
To get the latest from Money In Your Jeans please subscribe below:
KWL
June 13th, 2010Back in 1992, the Alberta government in its infinite wisdom decided to privatize driver testing. There was a mad rush to train all of the driver examiners on all classes of licenses. I was one of those examiners. I could test people going for the basic driving license, as well as taxi/ambulance drivers, and motorcycles. I had to be trained to test for semitrailers and school bus licenses. When my time came to be trained my boss, Pete, walked to the blackboard and wrote KWL – what do you know, what do you want to learn, and what will you learn. That training session was the best training that I ever attended, because Pete didn’t waste my time by going over stuff that I already knew.
I’m in the process of designing a course for those of you interested in learning how to create learning experiences online. I need to know what you know and what you want to learn, so that I don’t waste your time. Please leave a comment or two about what you need to know and I’ll get cracking on the course.
To have the latest from Money In Your Jeans sent to your email in-box please fill out the following:
I Hate “Informational Products”!
June 5th, 2010I got your attention didn’t I? What I meant to say is that I hate the term “informational product”, because it makes me think of infomercials (mind you I have been known to watch them at two in the morning when I don’t have enough skin to shut my eyes).
I see informational products more as teaching and learning resources than as information for sale. Most informational product authors are trying to teach their audience something. If that is what you are trying to do, then you are in the business of educating your clients.
Don’t let the idea of creating teaching and learning products scare you. It requires a certain set of skills, but the good news is that they are easy to learn. This blog will provide you with the basic skills to design educational products.
Subscribe to this Money In Your Jeans to learn more about designing educational products:
Making Dough With What You Know
May 30th, 2010Pretty catchy, eh? I have to thank my wife for the tag line. It captures the very essence of what this blog is all about – putting money in your jeans by creating informational products from what you know.
People are hungry for knowledge. According to Wikipedia Google is used several hundred million times a day for searches on various topics. What does that mean to you? Simply put, someone out there is probably looking for your expertise.
I can just picture you saying: “But I’m not an expert!” Face it, you know more than you think you know. Do people ask you ‘how to” questions? How do I log in?…How do you make bread?…How do you do that?…etc, etc, etc. Get the point? In someone’s eyes you are an expert. Still don’t believe me? Try this: create a list of what you are good at and post it in the comments section. Try it, you might just surprise yourself!
If you want the latest from Money In Your Jeans sent to your in box, please enter your email below:

