How To Ensure Your Online Learning Does Not Fall Flat

How To Ensure Your Online Learning Does Not Fall Flat

Online learning is great, right? Capture lessons in an online course, tell someone how to log in, and leave them to their own devices. Right? Wrong!

There is little success in pure Do-It-Yourself courses. Depending on your age, you might still remember the days when self-improvement gurus like Tony Robbins sold their programs on DVDs (or, do I dare to say, audio cassettes)? Many people who bought them in a moment of feeling inspired never took the shrink wrap off them. For some people, they were life-changing, but they were gathering dust for most.

The same is happening with online DIY courses. The “shrinkwrap” doesn’t come off at all, or the person doesn’t get past the first couple of lessons. Only the most motivated people get the benefit of such courses. Even if they go through the course, how much of what they learn do they put in place? The numbers are small and discouraging.

However, it is a game-changer when you pair an online course with facilitated live sessions. People get much more engaged – with the facilitator and others in the cohort. Hosting facilitations via video conference opens the door to working nationwide or even globally. How much engagement you get depends on the style of facilitation, the group size, and whether you use breakout rooms. Small groups enhance the experience.

To ensure that online learning does not fall flat, you must engage your people. Your students must go beyond learning the concepts. It is much more valuable to guide your students to APPLY what they are learning. They have to get something tangible from your course. Yes, tangible! Something they can point to and explain why it is helpful to them. It can’t just end on, “That was a cool experience.”

When you apply what you learn, it has two benefits:

  • You get something done that is useful to you.
  • You learn how to use the concepts at a much deeper level. Guide them to learn not just by viewing lessons but by discussing and doing!

One More Thing: Consider Adding A Pinch Of Private Coaching

When you additionally add a pinch of private coaching, the experience and the outcome become even more stellar! What you are reading here, works! We do it all the time with our Brilliance Mining cohorts, and the return our participants are getting on their efforts and investment is amazing! Here is what one of our cohort participants said:

I participated in two of Dr. Stephie’s coaching programs. When I did the first program two years ago, my partner and I were trying to grow our marketing agency but we were stuck. Over the last two years, we have tripled our business revenue and at the same time, we have grown our team.

Dr. Stephie made sure our plan provided for work/life balance. We scaled without most of the growing pains so many small businesses have. I am in the second coaching program now because we are ready to refine our offering and productize some of what we do so well. In other words, we are ready to grow again!

Irene Donnell, Partner, P5 Marketing

I’m Curious

What is your experience with online learning of complex subjects? Do you learn and retain what you were learning better when you have the chance?

  • To discuss it with others and see how it applies to you?
  • To use it for something meaningful to you?

Live Brilliantly!

Dr. Stephie

P.S.: I appreciate you commenting and sharing this with others. Thank you!

Stephie Althouse

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