Kate Anisimova
Сourse creation · 7 MIN · 12.09.2024
How to create an engaging music course
If you are a musician, composer, or music expert who wants to monetise your skills by creating an engaging music course, you are in a great place because opportunities are endless!
Here is a quick guide to help create a perfect online music course and a lesson plan. Let’s go!
Here is a quick guide to help create a perfect online music course and a lesson plan. Let’s go!
Step 1. Define the target audience for your online course
Who are the people who will benefit from your course? Do you plan to teach music to preschoolers? Or help kindergartens make their first steps to become the next Elvis? Or help your audience learn how to produce music. Or, perhaps, your audience is adults who want to master a musical instrument?
It’s time to make a decision! Defining your audience is crucial in creating a course because it influences how you work with information. Teaching a kid is not the same as teaching an adult, don’t you agree?
How do you define audience?
There are a couple of ways to do this.
- From your experienceAsk yourself: Who are the people you usually work with? Creating a course for people you know a lot about is much easier. If this is your first course, don’t challenge yourself by working with an unknown.
- From the demandWhich audience will most likely buy your course? If you want to make money on your product, these are your people! You’ll need to understand your audience a little more to define the demand.
- From your ambitionsLet’s say you want to expand your practice to new horizons. You have some street cred among parents of 7-10 y.o., but you want to make yourself known among an older audience. Then, it may be wise to target them.
This leads you to step 2.
Step 2. Define the goal for your online course
Okay, you want to create a course on producing music for kindergarteners, with lesson plans and everything. But why do you exactly want to make it?
Regarding education, there are usually two types of goals: one for yourself and one for your students.
Personal goal
Your personal goals may include:
- An additional income from course sales
- Enhancing your personal brand
- Promoting your business
- Attracting new customers
You may think: okay, all of these apply to me. They may, but there is one that is the most important. Let it be your North Star ✶⋆.˚
Let’s say it is personal brand matters. In this case, you may want to show your expertise in the best way possible.
- If your main aim is attracting new customers, then your focus should be teaching a part and demonstrating how people will benefit from your services.
- If you aim to make money on the course, you’ll need to perform thorough research to ensure that your topic is in demand and, therefore, you’ll be able to enrol many students.
It's important to set realistic goals that align with your expertise and the needs of your audience, as this will help manage expectations and ensure that your course will be effective.
Student goal
Student goal is the main reason one will enrol in your course. Usually, it is some problem they’re facing and want to overcome. Let’s say:
- Problem:Want to play guitar at parties.
- Solution:A course that teaches how to play guitar.
- Course goal:Teach the practical aspect of playing the guitar.
Or, in another case.
- Problem:I want to play guitar in the orchestra, but I possess only amateur skills.
- Solution:A course that teaches academic guitar skills with emphasis on reading musical sheets.
- Course goal:Teach the practical aspect of playing the academic guitar in addition to music literacy studies.
(Perhaps an online course may not be enough to cover such an ambitious topic, but, hey, there’s no shame in trying.)
To conclude, set two types of goals: one for you and one for students.
Step 3. Design the lesson plan for your online course
Now that you should have a good idea of what your music course is about, it’s time to think about its content! This is the most fun… and the most complicated part of all of the design.
The course's lesson plan determines whether your course will be able to teach anyone anything or become another bothersome and useless course among hundreds of others.
The course's lesson plan determines whether your course will be able to teach anyone anything or become another bothersome and useless course among hundreds of others.
Here are 5 five steps that will help you to make a lesson plan.
Step 1. List everything students must master when they finish your course
Use the formula ‘knowledge – skill – attitude” to do this. For the course teaching academic guitar skills, one of the KSAs may look like this:
Ultimately, you’ll need at least five KSAs for your course. For bigger programs, aim for ten or more.
Use the formula ‘knowledge – skill – attitude” to do this. For the course teaching academic guitar skills, one of the KSAs may look like this:
- Knowledge. Music notation: can understand fundamentals of music notation, including notes, rests, time signatures, key signatures, and dynamics.
- Skill. Sight-reading: developed the ability to sight-read sheet music proficiently, enabling you to play unfamiliar pieces accurately in real-time.
- Attitude. Attention to detail: has a habit of analysing musical scores, paying close attention to its nuances.
Ultimately, you’ll need at least five KSAs for your course. For bigger programs, aim for ten or more.
- Step 2. Come up with a final assignmentImagine you’re a professor taking an exam. What should students do to prove they have really mastered the topic? A perfect final assignment should summarise all of the key learnings in the whole course.
- Step 3. For each of the KSAs, design an assignmentThe process is the same as the final one, but smaller assignments should reflect everything you’ve settled in the KSA.
- Step 4. Take a step back and look at all of the assignments you’ve createdWill all of the smaller assignments help students to finish the final one? If not, think again. Maybe a final assignment is too complicated? Or are KSAs not realistic for the course format?
- Step 5. For each of the assignments, make a lesson planWhat should you teach students to make sure they’ll be able to complete an assignment?
The idea is to take a step back each time and check if each part of the course leads students to the ultimate goal you set in the previous step. Be ready to spend some time on this. This part may take a while, especially if it’s the first course you’re creating. Remember, creating an online music course doesn't end with its launch. It's important to continuously evaluate and improve the course based on student feedback and changing industry trends to ensure its relevance and effectiveness.
If you feel like it’s too much, ask for assistance. Seturon has a team of learning experience designers with 6 to 10 years of professional experience to help you create a perfect online course.
Step 4. Create content for your online course
Now, you have a lesson plan and a clear goal in mind. Time to create content for your music course! Depending on the format, there are several ways to do this:
- If you plan to host online webinars, prepare a presentation and lesson plan for each one. Depending on the target audience, aim for 40- to 90-minute sessions. Shorter sessions should be preferred if you plan to teach kindergarteners.
- If you plan to create a prerecorded course, prepare the scripts and text you'd like to include.
A professional assistant would be lovely here as well. Ideally, you’ll need a team of scriptwriters and designers. If you plan to record videos, consider working with a professional editor and an operator to film you. Good looks will be a great selling point for your course and help demonstrate your professionalism.
Seturon has a production team to help you prepare professional scripts and great-looking visuals for your online course.
Seturon has a production team to help you prepare professional scripts and great-looking visuals for your online course.
Step 5. Publish your course
You’re almost there! When everything is ready, the last thing to do is publish your course. Using a learning management system (LMS) is the best way to do this. Basically, an LMS is a place that helps your students get a flawless educational experience, and instructors track and monitor the course’s progress.
You may use platforms for mass learning, such as Coursera or Udemy, or a separate LMS, such as Seturon. Let’s discuss the advantages and disadvantages of various platforms.
You may use platforms for mass learning, such as Coursera or Udemy, or a separate LMS, such as Seturon. Let’s discuss the advantages and disadvantages of various platforms.
- CourseraCoursera is a massive online platform offering courses for top universities and institutions.
₊⊹ Pros- Everyone knows about Coursera. It is the easiest way for your course to reach a global audience.
- Credibility. Being on Coursera adds a level of trust to your course and to you as a creator.
ﾒ Cons- Coursera is selective. It usually works with universities, so publishing your course there may be hard if you have a private practice.
- Revenue split. You’ll share your earnings with Coursera.
꩜ .ᐟ Why choose Coursera?
Coursera is the best choice if you are an established professional or institution aiming to reach a large audience focusing on credibility and academic alignment. - UdemyUdemy is a popular platform where anyone can create and sell courses on almost any topic.
₊⊹ Pros- It's a straightforward place to start. Udemy is open to all creators; you only need to register and publish your course.
- Large audience. Udemy has an extensive user base, which means more potential students.
ﾒ Cons- Large audience. This is a case when the pros are the cons. To make your first course visible on Udemy, you need to develop a topic that has yet to be covered by other creators.
- Low revenue. Udemy often offers discounts, which can cut into your earnings.
- Branding limits. Using Udemy, you have a little control over how your course is presented.
- Udemy offers minimal options for customising your course. For example, if you plan to teach children, it won’t provide many opportunities for creating interactive and engaging experiences.
꩜ .ᐟ Why choose Udemy?
This is a perfect platform for independent creators looking to launch their courses quickly. However, if you plan to make a course on a broader topic, Udemy won’t be helpful from a promotional perspective. - Seturon LMSSeturon LMS is a platform designed for independent creators who want complete control over their courses. It offers many opportunities for creating engaging content.
₊⊹ Pros- With Seturon, you completely control content, pricing and branding.
- Customisation and interactive options. Seturon has an advanced course constructor to help you create engaging content.
- No revenue sharing. Seturon won’t charge you for your sales – you’ll only need to pay once.
ﾒ Cons- More Work. Setting it up and marketing your course is all on you.
- Platform Fees. There might be costs associated with using the platform.
꩜ .ᐟ Why choose Seturon?
If you want complete control over their course and create engaging content, Seturon is an excellent choice. In addition, you’ll get a team ready to help you create and promote your course.
When picking a platform, think about what’s most important to you.Want a big audience? Coursera or Udemy could be the way to go. Want complete control and to create engaging experiences? Then choose Seturon. Whatever you choose, ensure it aligns with your goals as a course creator.
- Kate AnisimovaLearning experience designerDesigned over 100 online courses, built four LX teams from scratch, and established educational standards for five companies. But who's counting?
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FAQ
Expertise in the area is the perfect start for creating your online course! However, it’s essential to translate your knowledge into an educational product that will benefit students. This is why the whole profession of Learning Experience Designers exists. Think about it as translation services. You may know how to make a great speech in German, but it doesn’t ensure you’ll make an equally great in English. The same goes for the creation of educational experiences.
It certainly is. Any educational program is not more than a simple push for a student to start practising. Ultimately, a formal educational process takes no more than 10% of the time really needed to master the skill: one hour of lecture—ten hours of practising. However, it is essential to make this push perfect to help students keep their motivation for all these hours of practice they’ll need to perform.
You can, for sure. Though education for children and adults may be quite different, modern technology allows the creation of perfect courses for every age group.
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