Crafting an Effective Online Course: Developing a Content Storyboard and Outline

Creating an engaging and effective online course requires careful planning and organization. A well-structured course enhances the learning experience and ensures that your students can easily follow along and achieve their desired outcomes. The storyboard is one of the most powerful tools for organizing your course content. This article will guide you through creating a content storyboard and outline for your online course, ensuring that each lesson delivers maximum value to your students.

Diving into Course Content with a Storyboard

We are now delving deeper into structuring your course content. A storyboard will be your guide in organizing your lessons effectively. For each lesson, start by understanding its value—the WHY. Then, determine what your students need to KNOW to master this component. Next, provide them with a tool on HOW to implement what they’ve learned. Finally, think of ways to get them to APPLY their new knowledge and share it.

By the end of this article, you will:

• Know how to create a storyboard
• Have a storyboard with keywords for each module and lesson in your course

Keep It Simple!

Before diving into the exercises, reflect on something you are exceptionally good at today—be it cooking, a sport, or playing an instrument. Recall the beginning stages when you were completely new at it:

• What helped you learn initially? What kind of feedback did you need?
• As you improved, what changed in your learning process? What feedback was essential as you progressed past the intermediate level?
• Now, as an expert, what feedback do you seek to continue improving?

Thinking about your learning journey will help you simplify the process for your students. Visualize creating hooks that help students build new knowledge upon what they already know. Also, consider how they can apply this new knowledge through exercises and reflective questions to integrate what they are learning.

Making the Learning Process Easier?

The SOLO taxonomy by Biggs and Collis describes how people learn in stages:

1. Pre-structural: No understanding yet.

2. Unistructural: Basic understanding of one aspect.

3. Multistructural: Understanding several aspects independently.

4. Relational: Linking different aspects together.

5. Extended Abstract: Applying knowledge in new contexts.

For example, when I started learning golf, I knew nothing (pre-structural). Watching instructional videos gave me a basic idea (unistructural). Practicing the swing led to a superficial understanding (multistructural). With lessons, I began to link components together (relational). Eventually, I aim to apply my skills in different golfing situations (extended abstract).

When creating online courses, think of providing continuous learning cycles like a spiral, where each new element builds on previous knowledge. Include feedback loops to help students refine their understanding.

What Is a Content Storyboard?

A storyboard outlines the content for each lesson within your course modules. Think of the end goal as the trunk of a tree, modules as the main branches, and lessons as the twigs. This structure helps guide your students toward achieving their goals.

Key elements of a storyboard:

• Intro: Define the goal/learning intention (“After this module, my students will be able to…”).
• Why: Explain the value of the lesson.
• What: Describe the essential knowledge needed.
• How: Provide tools to implement the solution.
• Apply: Encourage students to apply the new knowledge.
• Outro: Conclude the lesson.

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You can have multiple lessons per chapter or module, each with different instructional types (video, text, assignment, quiz, etc.).

For inspiration, check out an example course structure here.

Structuring Modules and Lessons

Each module and lesson should follow this basic outline:

• Overall Goal: What is the desired outcome?
• SEO Title: Important for search engine optimization.
• Why: Explain why completing this step is crucial.
• What: Detail what students need to know.
• How: Provide tools and exercises to apply the knowledge.
• Apply: Help students apply and share their new knowledge.

This structure ensures that students understand the value of each lesson, know what they need to do, have the tools to do it, and can apply their knowledge independently. Ultimately, this empowers your students to become self-sufficient learners.

Take the Next Step

By implementing these strategies, you can create a structured and effective online course that guides your students to success. To dive even deeper into course creation and explore more tips and insights, get your copy of my book, The Ultimate Course Creation Guide: How to Grow Your Business with an Online Course in 8 Weeks or Less. In the book, you'll find comprehensive guidance and detailed examples to help you create an impactful and profitable online course.

If you are looking for a Learning Management System (LMS) to host your course, here is a couple I recommend that you can try out for free:

Learnworlds

Thinkific

?Start your journey to becoming a thought leader in your industry today!

Resources

https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Course-Creation-Guide-Business-ebook/dp/B0BKQKTLMF

https://get.learnworlds.com/8cs7xgzkjzbm

https://try.thinkific.com/4e6b1q8iz5ca

https://sophiehhiggins.com