How to Create Engaging Courses in Creative Disciplines

In 2020, when the pandemic hit, I was teaching part-time online so that way I would have enough money to buy the things that I needed for the clarinet as I was living in Paris at the time. After I found out that everything got canceled, I only had 500 Euros in my pocket before I had to act fast. I could have panicked and freaked out that despite having advanced degrees in music and the humanities, I was going to be b-r-o-k-e and h-o-m-e-l-e-s-s.

At this point in my career, I had been playing concerts and learning from great maestros. I never viewed myself originally as someone who would be a curriculum developer and create classes for students K-12. I also never thought this was something that would evolve into a full-time job!

One of the most important things to start with is if you’re passionate about the subject. This could be something that you’ve studied in college or even something hobby related. The technology age has made it so that you can basically have a class about anything that you are passionate about and that people can connect to.

Think about your objectives and goals for the class…don’t forget your students. A lot of the time, there are courses that do have clear objectives and goals, but sometimes forget about the students. While I was writing the curriculum for our language courses, I shaped the course curriculum according to how I was able to learn the language and the things that worked for me. After a lot of experimenting with different games, I was able to find a formula that worked that allowed a variety of students to be able to participate collectively.

Don’t be afraid to experiment. There are things that work for some people and some that do not work for others. That’s completely normal. Be bold and try a variety of different things that would engage your clients that make it, so they want to continue learning with you. Taking risks leads to innovative learning that your clients will thrive on.

Always try to improve it. Since there are so many developments in technology, sometimes it’s difficult to keep up. I would suggest making sure that you are up to date with the latest technologies. Even if you experience success early on in your content creation, it’s always important to understand that there are always going to be ways to improve it for your clients. They will appreciate you more for it.
 
Use your social media channels to promote it. There are several different Facebook groups where you can share links to the courses that you created to like-minded and curious people who want to learn more about it. If you do enough research on hashtags and experiment with different videos, infographics, and images, you can build a following and a client base.
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Sometimes people ask me why I choose to sell the ‘magic’ being the curriculum that I’ve written digitally that has helped me grow my business. I know for a fact that there isn’t someone who can replace how I personally deliver the curriculum and my genuine hope is that others would find use for it. So, as you’re writing courses that interest you with the intention of monetizing them, be sure to find ways to implement them to see if they work or not, which was the most enjoyable part of the process for me in creating courses for the Music & Language Learning Center and The Modern Artist Project. If you want to learn more about creating engaging courses, schedule a free consultation with us today! ​

Kristine Dizon

CEO & Founder
The Modern Artist Project