In 2023, we can expect major changes in how courses are curated and delivered. The world of online education is rapidly evolving, and it’s essential for course creators to stay ahead of the curve.
Michelle Falzon, an expert in the course creation industry and the Director of Training and Education at The ASK Method Company, has predicted some key trends that will shape how course creators make content and build signature programs over the coming years.
From short-form courses to long-form ones, she believes it’s important for course creators to make strategic pivots as they navigate this ever-changing landscape.
Prediction #1: Higher Demand For Short-Form Courses
Michelle’s first prediction is a shift towards shorter shelf life for content due to our increasingly busy lives and short attention spans. Studies suggest that people now check their phones around 80 times a day, leading to a knee-jerk reaction for immediate gratification from bite-sized content like TikTok, Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts. A UK study from the Kings College of London, found that 41% of adults say that life is too fast-paced, and 60% wish life were simpler than it is today.
Course creators must know their audience’s needs in this environment and provide content in shorter, more digestible formats. Creating mini-courses or micro-learning modules that focus on specific topics and can be completed within a short time will win over more customers.
As a result, course creators must be prepared to adapt their approach if they want to remain competitive in this rapidly evolving market. And based on the average Tiktok video watch time (averaging 21-34 seconds), that tells us course creators must deliver nibble-sized content to grab attention and get someone information without the fluff.
Long gone are the days when course creators could spend months building a course and creating the content. Because audiences want up-to-the-minute content that serves them right now. Things are changing so fast that courses must be updated regularly and created more frequently.
Prediction #2: Rethink and Reimagine Programs
The course creators that will succeed are the ones who no longer run the longest or biggest signature programs but those who can deliver relevant content and valuable solutions in the shortest amount of time.
Speaking of bite-sized content, course creators should redesign their course content to adapt to their audience’s needs. People want to know what they can do right now to get the results they want. Up until 2018, short courses were growing over 500% more than Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, according to StudyPortals.com. Now, traditional universities are offering more short courses to compete with online course creators.
Course creators will have to radically adapt their content to suit their audience at the moment. Sharing their knowledge and insights with the world means an opportunity for creators to curate short-form, tactical trainings. Quick wins are the way to go!
Prediction #3 Signature Programs Are Old News
A few years ago, course creators invested in building signature programs designed to help students reach a goal by giving them a structured and comprehensive approach to learn a new skill or cover a specific topic.
Now, the focus is getting content out in a timely way, rather than spending months on heavily scripted and polished production. Investing effort and energy into more timely, responsive content will be more valuable to your customers than glossy production.
What’s working now may not be effective in 6-12 months, so course creators should prioritize delivering live content with less expensive production while paying attention to the current trends and techniques so they can adapt quickly.
Course creators will be able to communicate more effectively with their audiences and help them achieve success faster through resources, models, framework and checklists!
Prediction #4 Infusing The Entertainment Factor
The global edutainment market size is expected to grow from $4.75 billion in 2021 to $5.4 billion by 2023, according to a business research company.
Off-the-cuff, unscripted training is a great way to inject personality and entertainment into your content. By dropping the guard and being more relatable to the audience, course creators can make their material more engaging and memorable.
This approach, known as “edutainment,” has been growing in popularity; Incorporating elements of humor, props, and memes can help to make your content more engaging, while adding some levity to your material. Use elements of entertainment to make your content more enjoyable for your audience and retain their attention.
Prediction #5 Mixing Modalities for Engaged and Interactive Learning
Mix up the ways you present your content and encourage students or the audience to work in different ways. Make your sessions more dynamic and interactive by using videos, online tools like sketching and drawing on tablets and iPads, and breakout rooms for small group work.
Mixing modalities, or using different ways to communicate with students, customers, or audience members, will be the most effective way to engage people. This can involve using a variety of approaches, such as live audience interaction, screen sharing, and using different backgrounds and special effects on screen. Gamification and microteaching, or breaking down teaching into smaller increments, will be useful techniques to keep learners engaged.
Prediction #6 The Timeless Power of Customer Success
While technology and preferences for how people want to receive information may change over time, what doesn’t change is the human desire for success and achievement. By finding ways to unlock this motivation and help your audience experience success more often, you can create a healthy ecosystem where people are more likely to engage with your content and come into your world.
When you become obsessed with customer success as your driving light, you are more likely to make the necessary changes and help your audience get the outcome they want. All of this can be used as more information for content, social proof, and success stories; you can create a culture of customer success that will attract more people and foster a sense of trust and loyalty.
The BIG Course Creator Prediction of 2023
In summary, our big prediction is that the shelf life of content will continue to shorten, and courses and training materials will need to be more up-to-the-minute and responsive to current trends and needs.
This means that you may need to change things up constantly and be less concerned with production value to get your content to market quickly. An obsession with timely, relevant information, and a focus on curation (being aware of your audience’s needs) will be key.
By embracing trends and mixing up your modalities through edutainment and interactive techniques, you can help your customers achieve success and deliver tangible results. Remember to be entertaining and use the tools available to you, as attention spans continue to shorten.
Above all, make sure to focus on the outcome and give your audience some kind of immediate, tangible result that they can take away from your content.
And the best way to do all of this right now is to leverage Bootcamps. Bootcamps are intensive, short-term training programs designed to give participants an immersive learning experience in a condensed time frame.
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