How to Create an Online Training Course

When was the last time you started a course, and never finished it? (Don’t worry I won’t tell. Unless it’s mandated training, in which case you should definitely finish it.)

Whether it’s a course you saw in your LinkedIn page feed or a certification program you were certain you’d make time for, there’s likely one of three reasons you never finished:

1. The training wasn’t what you expected. It didn’t align with your experience or skill level. 
2. The training was bad. You know what I mean, the content or facilitation couldn’t keep you engaged. 
3. You got busy and prioritized other things.  

That’s the reality our employees are facing, too, and what you’ll need to anticipate when designing any training course. So let me help you make a course that you’d actually make time to finish.

Step 1: Define the performance outcome 

Before you build anything, write a performance outcome statement like this:

‍This course is for [specific role] who currently [context or gap]. After completing the course, they should be able to [observable action] so that [performance outcome].

No matter how you write it, your learning objective and its performance outcomes should be clearly articulated before you start designing anything. Otherwise you end up with disorganized content that can't be evaluated against business metrics.

Step 2: Design for the gap

Run a content audit alongside your needs analysis, even if you already know your audience's roles, skill levels, and job responsibilities.

Start by asking:

• What does the audience already know?
• What information already exists, and where?
• Who is a subject matter expert on that audience?

You want to reduce the likelihood that someone opens this course and thinks, this is repetitive. Every training should close a knowledge or skill gap for your audience.

Step 3: Outline the course

Break your course into modules, with each module representing a meaningful milestone toward your performance outcome. Once you have this outline, you'll storyboard each lesson, mapping out on-screen text, visuals, and narration before you build anything.

Think of a course like a morning commute. People want to get to where they need to go as efficiently as possible. They don’t appreciate unnecessary detours. 

Step 4: Develop the content

How you develop the content for your course really depends on the tools you're using (more on that in a bit). Still, there are universal best practices, such as:

• Write your script or course copy first.
• Separate on-screen text from narration.
• Use multimedia to reinforce a point.
• Make interactivity purposeful.
• Tie assessments to the behavior from your performance outcome.
• Design with accessibility guidelines in mind.

Step 5: Pilot and publish

Before publishing the final version of any training course, I recommend conducting a pilot with your target audience, or at the very least getting a once-over from an SME. Ask reviewers for targeted feedback: not just whether they liked the course, but whether it's applicable to the work they're doing.

A structured pilot lets you address feedback before publishing to the broader audience (you'll be glad you did). It also gives you an early signal on whether the course will actually support the performance outcome you identified earlier, before you've rolled it out to everyone.

Once you've incorporated that feedback, publish the course. Then go back to your learning objective and performance outcome to close the evaluation loop.

Choosing your training course tools

When you're designing an online training course, you're making a series of decisions that shape how you can measure and track the success of your training. Each of these decisions depends on your tech stack.

Most L&D teams still use an LMS or LXP to host their online training courses, although that is changing. However, few platforms have sufficient authoring capabilities, which is why instructional designers often procure additional tools. 

Synthesia customers often use their existing LMS to host training videos. For example, BD Rowa uses Moodle (their LMS) and Synthesia to support their machine technicians with task-specific training.

Why L&D teams are moving away from courses

Courses transfer information and build understanding, but they don't necessarily lead to behavioral change or skill acquisition. To do that, you need structured, feedback-rich practice environments. That's why L&D teams are moving away from traditional training courses toward more personalized learning with practice built-in. 

That doesn't mean you should stop building courses or delete your content library. Instead, think of the training content you create as feeding a performance engine. Every training you design should have enough context to stand alone, but also be stitched into a personalized learning plan. And that all comes back to effective learning design.