Are You Ready To Author Online?

Are You Ready To Author Online?
By Jeanette S Cates, PhD

One of the most frequent questions we get is "what does it take to put my course online?"
In an effort to give you more information, this is the first in a series of articles on just that topic. In this article, we'll look at the three components that need to be in place before you start to put your content online.
Audience
Do you have an audience for your content? Creating an online course takes your time and effort. You want to ensure that there are enough people who want to see your content to make it worth your while.
If you're creating a course you should be aware of who your audience is and how to reach them. For example, will you tell them about your course through an email newsletter? A link from your website? Or a listing in your company or college course catalog?
Regardless of your approach you want to have a plan in place before you start creating your course. Ask some of your potential audience members if they would like to see the course online? Would they take it if it were offered online? What would they pay to take it in an online setting?
Content
Once you're assured that you'll have an audience, you need to look at your content. Your content may be a seminar you give on a regular basis, a college course you teach for credit or non-credit, a series of articles you've written, or a new way of performing a process that you want to share with others. Regardless of the actual information you have, it can be converted into an online course! But you'll need to ask yourself some questions about your content.
1. Do you own the rights to the content? If you've been teaching it in a face-to-face environment you may have accumulated some materials that clearly are not yours. Others may have been incorporated into your course and you're uncertain of their origin. When you post content on the Internet, you must have clear ownership of the materials or written permission to use them online. Even if you have permission to use them in your course, there is a difference in the permissions needed to use them in a single classroom and the permissions needed for online viewing.
2. How is the content organized? If you have already organized it for sharing with others, then you probably have the major topics and subtopics outlined. If not, start right now to decide on the major topics and the supporting information under each topic. How many topics should you have? That depends on your content. If you are creating an online version of a six-hour workshop, you'll probably have at least 6-10 major topics. A "topic" should not take longer than an hour to complete online.
3. What format is the content in now? If you are using hand-written notes, copies of cartoons, some transparencies, and a few other props, you'll need to begin immediately to convert the content to electronic files. You can use word processing files, spreadsheets, slide shows, java applets, etc. Almost an unlimited number of file types are supported in most authoring environments. The important thing is to remember that ALL of the content will need to be in an electronic format.
Expertise
While creating an online course is not technically challenging with a learning management system (we'll talk about that in the next lesson), it does require that you are able to use an Internet browser, that you can open word processing files, and that you can manage the electronic files you need on your hard drive. Other than that, no additional expertise is required. However, if you are a "techie" you'll find that you can use HTML files, java applets, and other technical approaches in most learning management systems. They're very user-friendly!
I hope that's given you an idea of how to start thinking about putting your content online. When you're ready for the rest of the course, send an email to elearning@techtamers.com.

Dr. Jeanette Cates is an Internet strategist who works with experts who are ready to turn their knowledge and their websites into Gold. Her reputation as a speaker and trainer has earned her the title of The Technology Tamer. With more than 20 years in instructional design and elearning, Jeanette shares her news and views in OnlineSuccessNews.com

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