Course Creators Weekly #58 🗓 August 2nd, 2021 - The future of online education w/ Gagan Biyani

Gagan Biyani talks with Anthony Pompliano about the future of online education, cohort-based courses, Maven, and more.

On the education industry:

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  People have become a lot more optimistic about online learning in the last decade
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  Traditional education is losing its appeal as costs continue to rise
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  Online education is becoming more viable as online courses improve in quality

On CBCs vs other models:

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  Cohort-based learning isn't new—the tech to bring them online emerged only recently
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  CBCs have a structure, with specific start and end dates, and people learning together

On CBC communities:

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  People buy courses for the outcomes, but find themselves excited by the community
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  CBCs have the same magic of making new connections in college or university

On Maven:

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  Maven isn't necessarily a marketplace—not a marketing engine in the way Udemy is
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  Maven wants to be your partner, allowing you to focus on your teaching as you scale
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  Maven's goal is to build the largest faculty of the best instructors in the world
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  The vision is for people to be able to build cross-functional skills through Maven

Listen to the conversation if you're curious to learn more about Maven, their approach to building the company and their vision for the future!

In this fantastic article, Aarushi Singhania shares 10 key points that contribute to the success of CBCs. Here are my biggest takeaways:

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  Learn to handle a wide range of students—niche down, or "differentiate instruction"
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  Foster community and peer-to-peer learning by creating a safe yet challenging space
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  Hire a team to help you run the show—start small with one generalist and expand later
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  Communicate your time commitment requirements upfront—set expectations
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  Figure out and build your tech stack by finding inspiration from successful creators
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  Nurture and empower your alumni community—they're your most valuable asset
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  Think about how you can design a more accessible and inclusive pricing model
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  If you're a novice, focus on finding course-market fit, then marketing, then curriculum
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  Think about how you can collect data to evaluate + improve the student experience
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  Prediction: remote jobs in online education and lifelong learning schools will emerge

Check out the article for more depth and lots of great examples!

In this article, Salman Ansari shares his major lessons learnt from The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr.

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  Capture your reader's attention with your very first words—opening lines are crucial
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  Use visual metaphors to force people's imagination and bring your words to life
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  Don't describe emotions—describe details for your readers to feel those emotions
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  Write with a 'personal tone'—share not only thoughts and ideas, but feelings too