How to Design Course Content: Your Guide to Make it Efficient

Already have your course idea, yet not sure what to include in your course content? Even if you have many great ideas on what your course can comprise, you do not want to overwhelm your students with too much information, do you? 

So, how do you design a course that is engaging and delivers the results? 

Our team asked course experts, instructional designers, content designers, and course creators to gather the best practices you need for your course content to be effective. 

What makes course content truly effective? 

Do you want to design and deliver content that keeps students engaged and helps them learn better? In that case, we need to define what makes it effective in the first place. Here are some best practices from instructional designers and course experts. 

Start with the outcome 

When we start creating the course, the first thing that comes to mind is the content. We immediately want to put all the ideas into a comprehensive course structure. 

However, that's not the best place to start. We need to start with your course outcome. You may ask why. Your outcome is going to decide all the rest—the right content formats, your approach to explaining details, the examples you will include, the learning materials you will use, etc.  

Let’s say you’re designing a course on digital marketing. If your outcome is for students to create and manage ad campaigns, every piece of content in your course should support that goal. Meaning, in this case we will not tell everything there is to know about digital marketing. Instead, we will focus on what they need to master ad creation and management. This is when it becomes a quick yes for the student. 

Consequently, you will need to prioritize hands-on projects over lectures, including case studies of successful campaigns or even providing templates for campaign planning. 

“What I want you to think about is actions. Think about the three specific actions that your students are going to be able to take once they have finished your course. I also want you to think about the three actions that they will NOT be able to take”. 

 

Mariana Peña

Instructional Designer

Related: Develop Great Learning Outcomes With 5 Steps

Consider your students' preferences 

Focusing on the outcome also means focusing on your student’s needs. In the process, you can catch yourself wondering, “Shall I make a video episode, or better, just provide an additional PDF guide?”. 

The point is if your audience is used to the video format, you will probably not go ahead and offer them your podcast, however popular this format might be. For example, if you are creating a course for young academic students, they are more likely to prefer animated videos, dynamic content, engaging visuals, diagrams, and more visual content. 

Yet, if you know your students are busy professionals who will most likely listen to the course on the go rather than watch, you can focus more on the audio content. 

The question is, how do you know if the materials you choose match your students' preferences? Self-assessment and student feedback are the best ways to find out. That is why you should encourage your students to share their thoughts on the format, clarity, and overall effectiveness of the materials. For example, you could use surveys or polls to ask whether they found the video tutorials helpful or if they would have preferred more written guides. 

“If we're speaking about online courses, the ways we deliver the content will depend primarily on your type of audience. But no matter what we choose to deliver our content, we have to build in self-assessment. These are ways for us to get a view of whether we're doing well or not. We can also use direct feedback from the students”. 

Mariana Peña

Instructional Designe

Define your lexicon

If you are creating a recorded course, you can agree writing the whole script is daunting and overwhelming. We want the script to be as perfect as possible. And no matter how much energy you put, you still edit it all the time until it feels right. And this is how you spend 50% of your time and get stuck. Sounds familiar? 

The thing is, you do not have to write down every single word. However, not everyone can improvise on the go and stick to the point as they hit the recording button. This is why you need to define some key phrases and terms for you. It not only saves you time but makes it easier for your students. 

Especially if you are speaking to an audience that is just starting out, they can get confused easily once you use different definitions for the same term. For you, as an instructor who knows the whole material, these terms are the same. However, they sound different to your students ears who are just getting into the topic. 

“Remember that the success of your learner. You can help them by reducing the friction. One way of reducing friction is not to create confusion in their heads. So if they're confused about wait, hold on. In the previous video, you defined my sales target as this, and now you're saying this. So create a glossary of the things that you're going to be repeating the most in your course, even if it is how you introduce yourself”. 

Mariana Peña

Instructional Designer

This way your language remains consistent across all course materials, whether it's your videos, handouts, or quizzes. 

Make content pieces manageable 

When you are so excited about the course, you want to share all the valuable information with the students. Does this mean all those insights make your course content efficient? Quite the contrary.

You don’t want your students to feel overwhelmed by an information overload. Including too much content into a single lesson or module leads to confusion and reduces the effectiveness of your course content. 

Instead, we recommend breaking down the material into manageable, bite-sized pieces that students can easily digest and apply. For each lesson, allocate as much content as you manage to cover in no more than 10 minutes. The content information shall just be enough for the student to think, “I finished this episode; let’s now move to another one.” 

Structuring your course content 

Designing the course content is not only about writing the content and preparing your materials. The most important thing is how you deliver your content so that it flows, feels logical, and delivers the transformation you promised. 

Turn course content into modules 

What we mean by saying structure your course content is first grouping similar ideas together. This allows you to create focused, coherent sections, that each cover a specific  topic.

• Identify the core themes or categories within your course content. For example, if you’re creating a course on digital photography, you can have modules on camera settings, composition techniques, lighting, and post-processing. 
• Once you’ve grouped similar ideas, arrange your modules in a sequence that makes sense for your learners.
• Within each module, break down the content into individual lessons or sections. These should be short and focused. For example, let’s get back to our photography example. Within a "Lighting" module in a photography course, you can have lessons on natural light, studio lighting, and using flash.  

Choose course content types you need 

When deciding on your course content format, here are a few common options you can consider to make your course content engaging. 

• Video lectures 

Video content is one of the most popular formats for online courses. Especially, if you need to explain concepts visually, demonstrate some processes, and engaging students with dynamic visuals and audio. To keep students engaged with video, you can incorporate animations, on-screen text, and real-life examples. 

• Interactive quizzes

Quizzes are an excellent opportunity for students to test their knowledge and reinforce what they’ve learned. You can use them at the end of modules or lessons before moving on. 

• PDFs and guides

If your students like to read and digest information at their own pace including written materials ike PDFs and guides as part of your course content would be a great idea. In these documents, you can include detailed explanations, examples, and additional resources for further reading. They’re also a great reference tool that students can revisit whenever they need to refresh their knowledge.

• Audio lessons

Podcasts and audio lessons are perfect for students who like to learn on the go. This content format works well for discussions, interviews, or speaking about topics that don’t require visual aids.

• Live sessions

Live sessions provide an opportunity for real-time interaction between you and your students. You can host Q&A sessions, group discussions, and live demonstrations. 

And also do not forget to include hands-on assignments and projects to encourage students to apply what they’ve learned in a practical context. It can be a writing assignment, a mini project, or some kind of challenge. 

Course content structure patterns you can use 

After you choose the content formats that help you deliver the course outcome better, we can now think about the actual structure pattern of your course content. 

1․ Step-by-step guide course content structure

In a step-by-step structure, each lesson builds on the previous one, creating a clear progression of skills or knowledge. It is one of the most popular choices among course creators. In this case, you basically start from foundational information, moving to more complex topics. 

That’s why after brainstorming some key ideas you want to talk about, you need to organize them in a way so that they are logical and cohesive. 

For example: How to Create a Successful Online Course

• Step 1: Define your course objectives
• Step 2: Research the target audience
• Step 3: Design the course outline
• Step 4: Develop the course materials
• ……

2. Topic-based course content structure

In the case of this structure, you organize content around key themes or topics instead of keeping a strict order. If you are creating an introductory course for a certain subject and not a course about a specific skill, you can choose this structure. 

For example: Introduction To Art Movements

• Expressionism
• Abstract art
• Postmodernism
• ….. 

In this case, the particular movement you can start with is not really that important. Yet, if your course was about the development of these movements, you would keep the chronological order of which movement followed which. 

3. Problem-solution course content structure 

In a problem-solution structure, each module or lesson begins with a specific problem or challenge, followed by the content that provides the solution. You can follow this structure if your course is teaching a particular skill. 

For example: The problem or challenge your course provides a solution for is the website traffic being low. 

• Using SEO techniques to increase website visits
• Content marketing as a way to drive traffic
• Social media marketing to increase traffic
• ……. 

4. Modular course content structure 

A modular structure is when the students can choose the modules that are most relevant to their needs. Basically, you can make this a series of mini-courses, where each course addresses a particular aspect of the same topic. 

For example: Photography courses 

• Lighting
• Composition
• Necessary equipment
• Photo Editing
• …. 

You can sell each part separately instead of making it a comprehensive course. This way, the students can enroll in one of the topics they are interested in, and why not consider getting others as well. 

5. Weekly course content structure 

A weekly structure divides the course content into weekly modules, each focusing on a specific topic or skill. This format is often used in a longer course. Students can easily follow along with a set schedule, completing one module per week. For example, in a 4-week course on business management, each week could cover a different aspect, such as leadership, financial planning, marketing strategies, and so on. 

Week 1: Understanding Financial Goals

• Setting short-term, medium-term, and long-term financial goals
• Identifying priorities and creating a financial vision
• Introduction to budgeting tools and techniques

Week 2: Creating and Managing a Budget

• Basics of budgeting
• Tracking income and expenses
• Tips for sticking to a budget

Ways to create course content that’s engaging and educational

When designing your course content, it is equally important to keep it practical and engaging. Here are some ways you can achieve it. 

• First, try not to be too formal when delivering your content. If your subject allows, it is always better to maintain a conversational tone. We are not saying you should not stay professional. We mean that you should make it feel like a dialogue rather than a one-way information dump. For example, you can ask rhetorical questions, use humor or your personal stories as examples, even if that is a recorded course. 
• Next, make sure you can provide a quick win. In other words, hook your students early by giving them something valuable right from the start. It can be a practical tip or an insight they can immediately apply. For example, for your social media course, you can first help them set up a social media business account. 
• Make sure you provide enough flexibility when it comes to your course content materials.  For example, you can have optional deep dives and additional resources. They allow students to choose how they engage with the material. 
• And finally, do not be afraid to show your personality or be afraid to make mistakes while recording. 

“Let yourself make mistakes. Nobody's going to judge you for that. You can make mistakes while you're recording. If you feel that you could say something in a better way, take a few breaths and go at it again”.  

Mariana Peña

Instructional Designer

Ready to get your course rolling in?

If you're excited to bring your course ideas to life, Uteach is here to support you every step of the way. 

Whether you're designing your first course or working on an existing one, our platform offers a variety of tools and features to help you create courses easily and provide an engaging learning experience for your students. 

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