The quick and simple way to turn your online course into an evergreen money-machine
The online world is flooded with courses, instructional videos, guidebooks, membership for all courses and more. Nowadays, experts of all fields understand the power of online learning, and are eager to translate their knowledge and expertise into their own online course.
However, there’s one thing most experts do not take into consideration before launching an online course.
Can you guess what is it?
Two words:
Student. Engagement.
What is student engagement, and how is it going to help you in creating a thriving business?
Read on because this post will give you everything you need to know to turn your expertise into a money-making machine.
So what exactly is student engagement, and why in the world is it so critical to your business?
Engagement is something instructors of any kind want to see and feel among their students. Whether you’re a fitness instructor, a finance expert, or a marketing genius, you want to make sure your students are interested, motivated, and most importantly, enjoying the learning process!
Online courses present new challenges when compared to traditional education, mostly because students are separated from their instructor by a computer or a smartphone screen.
According to Katy Jordan, whose Ph.D. research focuses on online academic social networks, the average completion rate for massive open online courses is less than 7 percent (!)
This disturbingly low number has a tremendous effect on the future of your business.
Why low engagement in your online course is deadly for your business
When most instructors and experts think about growing their business faster, their first thought is to invest in marketing and user acquisition.
While marketing and customer acquisition is a clear part of revenue growth, a less obvious but critically important driver is customer success.
According to a research conducted by Allen Miller, Ben Vonwiller, and Peter Weed, companies with strong levels of customer success grow faster than those who put their efforts and resources solely on marketing and acquisition.
Ultimately, the focus on customer success not only accelerates revenue growth, but also creates a more efficient and effective go-to-market strategy.
Why is it so hard to keep your students engaged in the online world?
There are several reasons why keeping your online students engaged is so challenging:
- No human feedback
Right, some people are definitely capable of encouraging and motivating themselves. However, when learning new skills, most of us are in constant need of external feedback and encouragement. Without a proper feedback cycle, we get distracted easily, finding ourselves giving up before we even started.
- Impatience
Most people nowadays are used to bite-sized, clickable pieces of information. Reading more than 7 lines or listening to someone speaking for more than 3 minutes is almost unbearable. People want to know more in less time, especially when hanging around the virtual arena.
- Lack of community
Participating in an online course can get pretty lonely. Online courses often have us sitting in front of a computer, all by ourselves, with almost no sense of community or support.
According to Eric Schaps’ research – which investigates the connection between a supportive environment and academic success – a supportive community can strongly affect motivation and engagement levels, and can dramatically improve students’ grades and test scores.
- Passive learning
The learning process in online courses is mostly passive. Students are usually required to watch videos or listen to lectures, and the overall experience can get pretty boring. In a world so full of stimulations, it is extremely hard to keep students interested and engaged with no interactivity.
So, how can you keep your students motivated and engaged in the online world?
Despite their popularity, traditional online courses fail to solve the engagement problem. Insufficient human feedback, impatient students and nearly zero sense of community are all major barriers to student engagement online.
However, in the past year, we see more and more companies working with the next generation of online courses – Real-Life Quests.
Real-Life Quests were created in order to solve the online engagement problem. Among the companies who have transformed their teaching methodologies are MindValley, a company that eliminated thousands of online courses and replaced them with around 30 premium Quests, and MyQuest, a company that allows experts and instructors to create Real-Life Quests instead of static online courses.
So, what is it that makes Real-Life Quests much more powerful than conventional online courses?
- Automatic feedback system
A Quest includes an automatic feedback system. Sounds confusing? It really isn’t. The feedback system allows the instructor to engage and interact with a large number of students at the same time, giving each one of them the feeling of a 1-1 coaching session.
The smart system responds to each student’s progress and sends encouragement and feedback at the right time. Thanks to the automated system, students enjoy success rates 3X higher than those of conventional online courses.
- Step-by-step, bite-sized learning
Unlike online courses, a Quest breaks down the learning process into bite-sized, chewable pieces, making it super easy for students to digest and implement new information. Impatient students are then able to consume a large amount of information without feeling overwhelmed.
- Supportive Community
A Quest includes a supportive community of like-minded people who share the same goal. The Quest community enables students to interact not only with their instructor, but also with one another.
Many instructors use Facebook to create a community of learners, but since this solution is not organically integrated in the learning experience, it is not as efficient as a Quest community. The students’ ability to share their learning experience with each other in an intimate environment amazingly boosts their engagement levels.
- Interactivity and Gamification
A Quest takes the students on a fascinating and highly engaging journey. Unlike traditional online courses, where students are asked to watch videos and listen to lectures, on a Quest, students are required to take action.
By gamifying the learning experience, students are eager to move forward and unlock the next challenge. They complete exciting missions, earn points, and win prizes for their progress, which keeps them highly motivated and engaged throughout the entire Quest.
How can I create my own Quest?
Creating your own Quest has never been easier.
As the first company to develop Real-Life Quests, MyQuest now offers a White Label Solution to coaches and experts from all over the world, who wish to join the next generation of online courses.
Apply today and transform your expertise into an exciting Quest!
Your students will thank you!