Thinking of Teaching Online?

Are you considering teaching online workshops, teleseminars or webinars?

I have enjoyed teaching both online workshops and teleseminars.

Teaching online requires as much, if not more, preparation as teaching in person, but it provides a tremendous degree of flexibility in terms of how you can deliver your content and the amount of information you can provide.

Teaching online eliminates geographical barriers and allows you to reach more people.

The online environment offers a lot of flexibility — to both instructors and learners. It is both challenging and fun to teach online.

Whether you plan to teach to share and build your expertise, to expand your client base and/or to make money there are several considerations and questions you need to ask yourself first.

I have compiled a list of questions to help you get started and have listed several resources for you to explore to help you achieve your goal of teaching online.

Questions to ask yourself before you start:

Suggestion: Read all of the questions first, then go back and take your time answering them with as much detail as you can.

1. Why do I want to teach online? (inform, inspire, make money, up-sell additional products and services, increase my email list, etc)
2. How do I teach my topic currently?
3. How do I envision teaching this topic virtually, in an online environment?
4. Will I need video to convey my message or to show a demonstration?
5. Can I substitute a series of images and text, similar to a PowerPoint presentation, that can be converted to video format?
6. What supporting materials do I currently use? (Props, handouts, workbooks, etc.)
7. How can these materials be re-purposed to be used in an online teaching environment?
8. Do I see this as a single event or the beginning of a series of events?
9. Who is my audience?
10. Are they currently online? In what way? Email? Social networking?
11. Have they taken an online class, workshop or teleseminar in the past?
12. How comfortable is my audience with online technology?
13. How will I reach my audience and market my classes to them?
14. Do I currently have an online presence and a platform that I can market from and where I can effectively communicate with and interact with my audience?
15. Am I comfortable with online technology?
16. Am I comfortable with online social media networking and marketing tools such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Ning, MySpace, etc.
17. What social media platforms does my audience prefer?
18. Can I do all of this myself: Create, set-up, market, teach and deliver my classes?
19. Do I need assistance?
20. If so, how much help do I need, and in what areas?
21. Do I have a course outline?
22. What are the primary takeaways or deliverables for this class?
23. How much interaction is required to effectively deliver my material?
24. Is this a lecture based class or an interactive class?
25. How will I communicate with my students outside of the learning environment?
26. Will this class be free or fee based?

Online resources to market, produce, and deliver online workshops, teleseminars and webinars:

Marketing & Event Registration:
Eventbrite.com – an online event management site to promote your event, collect payments, etc.
Constant Contact Event Marketing – Constant Contact is a full service email marketing service provider that includes newsletters, surveys and polls and event marketing, all of which are fully integrated.

Teaching Your Workshop Online:

Nicenet.org – Older website. Completely free. Text only, no graphics or video. Best for text-based teaching and learning, such as writing workshops.

www.odijoo.com – More advanced online teaching environment as compared to Nicenet.org offering more interaction, graphics and video.

www.Ning.com – Allows you to create your own custom, social network. It can be used for private groups such as mastermind groups, coaching and teaching. There is a small monthly fee associated with this service, but you can start with a risk-free 30-day trial.

www.FreeConference.com – Free teleconference software, sends invites, offers lots of options for managing calls for up to several hundred people. For a small fee, you can have the conference / seminar recorded. The recording can be provided to all of your listeners as a bonus, especially for those unable to attend the event. The recording also can be used as a product to be sold at a later date.

InstantTeleseminar.com – For teleseminars and webinars. More advanced features as compared to freeconference.com, but it is not free.

www.nconnects.com – For teleseminars; A paid service.

www.AudioAcrobat.com – Used for creating audio and video course materials.

Audacity – Free software that can used to record and create audio files.

Digital Product Sales:

www.payloadz.com – You can upload and start selling your digital products online for about $14.95 a month. Includes shopping cart buttons for your website.
www.e-junkie.com – You can upload and start selling your digital products online for about $5.00 a month. Includes shopping cart buttons for your website.

One More Resource:

www.PayPal.com – There are almost a quarter billion people who use PayPal to purchases goods and services online, including online workshops, teleseminars and webinars. Paypal integrates with most, if not all, of the services mentioned above.

I hope these “Thinking of Teaching Online?” getting started questions and resources have been helpful.

Have a question, comment or want to share an additional resource? Please feel free to leave a comment or email me at Sandy@TheDreamingCafe.com.