Laura Creates Courses Laura V Coulter

There are many community-building benefits of holding live online meetings in your course. Learn how to make the most of these sessions.

Links mentioned in the episode:


Pocket PD Guide: Humanizing by Michelle Pacansky Brock
The Impact Of Teacher-Student Relationships In An Online Course - Part 1 / Part 2 

The activity for this episode is to think about your online course or one you’re developing. Outline three live sessions and include the following points. 1) What material was just covered, so you know what the Q & A might be like. 2) What extension to that material you can offer. 3) And what activity you might be able to do with students to deepen the learning. So your three live sessions outlines will have three bullet points each.

Then share one outline in the comments. Be sure to give some context so that we can give good feedback. Review other comments and offer feedback as you see a need. I look forward to reading your comments.

If you prefer reading this post, visit https://lauravcoulter.com/using-live-online-meetings-to-build-community/

If you'd like it in video form, visit https://youtu.be/zrV4ubJxTZ0

Reflection is making meaning of our experiences. It allows students to review their understanding, make connections, and draw conclusions about what they learned and how it applies to them. That’s big stuff. 

In this episode, we look at ways to bring reflection into an online course. 

The activity for this episode is to brainstorm five reflection questions that you might insert into your course. The first three are going to be the hardest to come up with but you should be able to flow after that. Feel free to brainstorm more than five. 

Then post two of your reflection questions in the comments of the video. Be sure to give us context so that we can give good feedback. Read the other responses and provide feedback as needed.

You can watch this episode as a video, if you prefer.  Or read it as a blog post. 

Download my free ebook, Online Course Creation Made Easy: 25 Activities to Engage Your Online Learner

Generating your own answers to questions is much more powerful than selecting an answer from a list. It engages your brain differently. Take advantage of how the brain works.  This episode gives some examples of how use this design strategy in your online course.

The activity for this episode is to think about your course. If you already have a course and have a multiple-choice question in it, re-work it so that students generate their own answer rather than choosing one of your options. If you don’t yet have a course developed, think about a topic you are going to cover and write three potential questions that you could use to help students generate their own answers from the learning.

Then share one open-ended question in the comments. Be sure to give us context for the question. That will help us give the right feedback. Please read and respond to other comments as you see a need. I look forward to reading your responses. 

If you prefer watching this episode as a video, visit https://youtu.be/KcaZR6_VMfA  

If you prefer to read it as a blog post, visit https://lauravcoulter.com/generating-your-own-answers  

Download my free ebook: Online Course Design Made Easy: 25 Activities to Engage Your Online Learner at https://LauraCreatesCourses.com

Microlearning is breaking larger topics into very small chunks, maybe a 2-3-minute video, an infographic, or a page of text. Personalization is when learners are able to move through the material as they see fit. The two together are powerful partners in learning.

The activity for this episode is to think about a specific topic in your course. How small can you break down the pieces of that content? Break your topic down into the smallest possible pieces and label how you might best convey that piece. Will you use a video, an infographic, etc?

In the comments below, let us know whether microlearning might work for some or all of your content. Join the conversation by responding to other comments.


Blog post: Use Microlearning To Let Your Students Choose Learning As Needed
YouTube Video: Ep 10 Choose Learning As Needed

Mentioned links: Learning & development: Across the generations 

People have preferred ways of learning. As a course creator, you need to understand the learning preferences and how to leverage them.   

This episode explores how you can design to meet your learners preferences and why you should.   

The activity for this episode is to think about something you plan to teach in your course. How would you provide the information to your visual learners? Your auditory learners? And your tactile learners?  

Then share your ideas with the community in the comments of the episode video. Read the other comments and offer support and feedback as you see a need.   

If you prefer watching this on video, visit Ep. 9 Learning Preferences 

If you prefer to read this in a blog post, visit https://lauravcoulter.com/design-for-student-learning-preferences/  

Check out my website at https://LauraCreatesCourses.com 

Download my free ebook Online Course Creation Made Easy: 25 Activities to Engage Your Online Learner

Adult learners are very different than K-12 learners. Our lives are full of more responsibility than most of us imagined we would have. That's why we have to look at adult learners differently than younger learners.

This episode explores the seven adult learning principles and how you can address them in your online course creation. In no particular order:


Adults must want to learn
Adults will learn only what they feel they need to learn
Adult learning focuses on problem-solving
Adults learn by doing
Experience affects adult learning
Adults learn best in an informal situation
Adults want guidance and consideration as equal partners in the process


You can also watch this as a video or read the blog post. 

The activity for this episode is to think about yourself as a learner. Can you find examples from your own learning experience that match with an adult learning principle or two? Jot down as many examples as you can think of.  

Next, join the community conversation in the comments of the video. Share one of your examples and how it connects to one of the principles. I look forward to reading your example.