I deal with teachers who are quite happy to teach ‘old school’ – doing the same old, same old – and if that works I am happy for them. Most of those teachers wouldn’t even dream of attempting to sell their educational materials online. This post is not for them!

This post is for those of you who have made the decision to at least explore the idea of creating online material. It is for those who see the potential of the world wide web and education 2.0.

So, where do you start?

• First of all you need a topic or subject that you think will generate interest (and in turn generate sales). This does not necessarily have to be related to traditional topics found in the typical school. Yes, if you have a unique approach to math, science, language arts, social studies, etc. you should be able to find a market for your lessons or courses. But, think outside of the classroom, so to speak. Is there a subject that you are an expert in that you could turn into an option course for students? (Put your business thinking cap on: schools are cutting back available on subject options…do you see where I’m going?). Is there a subject that you could design for interested adults. Don’t just limit your ideas from the classroom…THINK BIG!
• Now you have to brainstorm all the possible lessons that you could generate from your chosen topic. Write the topic in the middle of a sheet of paper, then write anything that comes to mind. Once you have exhausted all possibilities, prioritize them.
• The next step is to do a wee bit of market research.”But I’m a teacher, I know nothing about marketing ,” you say, “Relax it isn’t as difficult as You make it out to be.” Start out by listing all the words related to your chosen topic. Then go to Google Keyword Tool and enter your list of words (follow the instructions). This will give you a good idea of how many people have searched for those words in the last month or so.
• You have now narrowed down your topic. It is now time to create learning objectives for the course.
• Start creating your course – I prefer to write things out on paper first; it tends to get the creative juices flowing, but pick whatever works for you.
• Finally, you have to put the course online, that is the topic that I will be tackling next time. Stay tuned…

This article is the third in a series of articles geared toward educators who want to learn how to make dough from what they know. To subscribe to Money In Your Jeans click here.

Tags: online course creation

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010 at 7:45 AM and is filed under How Teachers Can Make Money Online. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.