How do I outline my Course?

One of the questions I get asked quite a bit in regards to course creation is how to get started with outlining the content for the course. Once someone has decide to create a course this can be a big roadblock; deciding what to include and how to include it.

In my Course Creation Formula, I share the structure of outlining your course as The Roadmap to Transformation.

Through our course, we are taking our students from a pre-transformational state to a post-transformation state.

From their current state to an ideal state.

The pre-transformation or current state is where your student is stuck when they are deep in their pain point or are struggling with a challenge that you’ve identified you can solve through your course.

The post-transformation or ideal state is where they find themselves are they’ve completed your course and you’ve helped them with their pain point or challenge. They are no longer stuck.

Before you can begin to even think about the content of your course you need to have the start and the destination of your Course Transformation very very clear because everything else is going to feed on that.

Now that you know what the final destination is for your students, what are the milestones they need to make along this journey?

Think of 6-8 steps that they need to take for the transformation to occur. Each step should be absolutely necessary, a must-do along the journey. If the step doesn’t change the outcome, it isn’t necessary.

These 6-8 milestones are going to be the modules for your course. 

If you look at The Course Creation Formula as an example of this Roadmap to Transformation. The current state is not having an online course and the ideal state is an amazing, completed, and launched course.

Moving from the current to ideal state there are 6 milestones students of The Formula move through:

1. Your Course Idea

2. Your Course Plan

3. Your Course Content

4. Your Course Tech

5. Your Course Offer

6. Your Course Launch

You need to make your way through each of these milestones in order to have the transformation. No course to a launched course.

Once you’ve got your milestones (modules) it’s time to look at your lessons. For each of these major milestones, you need to define mini-milestones that need to be completed to achieve the module concept. What are all the concepts your students need to work through to fully understand that module?

Using Module 1 of the Course Creation Formula as an example, my students go through all these mini-milestones to develop the idea for their course.

1. Course Creation Why

2. Course Type

3. Ideal Client

4. Perfect Course Topic

5. Validating your offer

Each one of these lessons are necessary for my students to be able to cement their course idea. 

The key to both your milestones and mini-milestones is to not overwhelm your students with too much information. Aim to have 5-8 short, bite-sized lessons for each module. 

How to get it done?

I like to use post-it notes to outline my course. 

I use a different coloured post-it for modules and lessons so I can see at a glance which is which.

I first write on a post-it note each major milestone on the transformation journey. Then I write on separate post-its each mini-milestone, concept or activity my students will need to complete or understand to be able to achieve the module.

Post-it notes are so handy for this process because you can move them around to suit, combine them as needed until you get the outline of your course sorted.

That’s it - my process for outlining your course.

Give it a go and let me know how it works for you.

If you want more support and guidance in creating your online course, come over and join us inside The Course Creation Formula.

Find out all the details here.