Takeaways from my first course
A few weeks ago, I traveled down to the LinkedIn Learning studio in Carpinteria, CA to record my first course (Fundamentals of Data Transformation 🤓).
It’s pretty crazy to think that working passionately can lead to such cool outcomes. It wasn’t long ago that I was a complete beginner in the space.
I had a ton of fun, but more importantly, I learned quite a bit about course planning, recording, and education. What good is learning without formalizing those ideas or sharing them with others? So here are my biggest takeaways in course planning and development:
Start with a central idea or mission, then work backward to create content. Be sure to check in and make sure everything in your course follows from the mission. Like writing, it's easy to get distracted.
EVERYTHING is a lot harder to explain than you think. That means you should start with the simplest possible example, and then add complexity sparingly. It's hard, but important, to be picky with what you share, especially for curious people, but education is the ultimate exercise in eliminating all but the essential.
Long-form content is hard and you'll never get things right the first time. Getting clever with video/audio editing and allowing yourself to cut to different scenes can be a great way to maintain a cohesive, smooth video while making mistakes, as I constantly do. 😂
Live-action videos are an art (duh, Matt). Learn to slow down your speech (but don't be too slow!) and tell a story that captivates learners. It's easy to get caught up in saying things "just right," but it takes all the personality out of your work! There's a delicate line to walk that I'm constantly trying to improve there.
The best way to get inspired is to be a student yourself. The cycle of learning → doing → educating is one I’ve observed quite a bit recently. You can’t truly be an educator without being student. For that reason, it’s a pretty good idea to build/learn exactly what you’re teaching before you make the course, which leads me to my next point.
If you don’t have a learning goal & course plan, you’re going to have a bad time. Take the effort up front to thoroughly plan and evaluate how you want to build your course before you dive in. I spent so much time working on content that was wasted because I didn’t create an adequate course plan.
There are some pretty smart people out there, you should ask them for advice. Many of the most prolific people I know are more than willing to share their tips and tricks, because the true secret to their success is hard work and consistency. If you’re someone who already works hard, consistently…. this is great, because you can integrate their tips and learn fast! If not, that’s a better starting point than tips and tricks. 🤣
I have much more to say on this topic, but that’s a follow-up post! In the meantime, I have a few other educational goals I’m working towards at Replit, as well as a potential follow-up course with LinkedIn. I’m looking forward to sharing the rest of what I learn with you all.