Course Content Instructional & Content Design

Challenge

Felicia Pride came to me with the hope of upgrading and marketing her screenwriting course, The Creative Comeback. She knew it had value, but knew the production of the course and the course platform weren’t optimal. She also felt that the language in the course branding wasn’t attracting the target audience. I needed to help her update the course as an instructional designer and content designer, but also create a marketing plan as a content strategist.

Solution

Needs analysis/Content Audit

I analyzed the course’s language, structure, and use of media to identify opportunities for improvement. While learners didn’t give us any specific feedback about what was and wasn’t working on the course, when we wrote email newsletter copy about the forthcoming upgrade and it including activities, those who previously bought the course said that could be a game changer.

Video production and editing

During the needs analysis, I identified that the course’s audio files weren’t high quality enough and also identified sections where video instruction would be better. I oversaw and directed the production of these new audio files and videos.

Creation of job aids

The original course only featured questions in the body of the course, so I created printable pdfs to give the students a place to write down their responses to the questions they were asked throughout the course. We later asked learners to share these answers (if they were comfortable) in the course Facebook group to increase engagement with the material.

Platform selection and migration

Pride’s course was originally hosted on Podia, but the platform wasn’t optimal for video and gave the feeling of a blog more than a course. After thorough research I decided to move the course to Thinkific. I then built and edited the entire course to completion, including welcome pages and all email notifications sent to students.

Results

The course sold more in the first month after the upgrade than it did in the two-years prior. Learners routinely wrote heart-warming testimonials on twitter about how the course inspired them to write again and even get hired as screenwriters in Hollywood.