Four Key Mistakes When Building Digital Education

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Principles are the what. Tactics are the how.

Or, how I often think of it, principles are the “boxes to check”. Tactics are the tools we could use to check the boxes.

Individual tactics are easy to teach, partly because you don’t need to understand why they worked. You just need proof that it’s worked for you, or somebody else. But that fact has very little to do with whether it will work for others.

Principles are the amalgamation of the millions of tactics that all work to accomplish the same goal, melted down to their core commonalities.

I’ll use a current client example to explore this idea further.

I am at the tail end of helping a solo course creator do a complete overhaul of the content and UX of her course — a thorough course and mentorship centered around organic business growth.

One of our early steps was to go through the course from start to finish as-is, see what we want to keep, revise, and scrap.

One lengthy conversation we had early on was around a current module titled: “Building Your Facebook Group”

Let’s think about this for a moment. What could be problematic around centering an entire module around building a Facebook Group?

My thinking, simply put: The specifics of our teachings will change as Facebook Groups (inevitably) change.

In two years, or two months, this module may spark more questions than answers, or even become obsolete.

Plus, what if somebody doesn’t use Facebook or wants to build a community elsewhere, are they unable to? If they build it on Discord or Slack, is it worse? What are the differences? With our previous approach, we couldn’t guide those people down a path that’s ideal for them.

That’s because the entire module was centered around a tactic, not a principle that could result in a variety of tactics.

I want to acknowledge two contrary thoughts to the above that I also believe:

  1. Having a module dedicated to Facebook Groups specifically is not inherently a bad call across the board. For instance, if this was a Facebook course specifically, it could make more sense. Reason number 1,587 to approach every course with individuality.
  2. Upkeep is always required. I don’t think regular maintenance in and of itself is reason to sacrifice the depth of education. For instance, even by discussing a variety of specific community-building platforms, we’ll still have to have visibility on which ones change, dissolve, and new ones that are created.

The core principles to articulate are the power of building a community, how to nurture an audience, how build psychological safety etc. not how to build a Facebook group.

And, even then, building a Facebook Group may be the perfect tactic for somebody. But being principle-based allows students to understand the boxes they need to check and open their eyes to all the tools they could use to check it.

So, we shifted that module to “Building a Community”, and the first lesson was titled, “Where to Build Your Community”, where we taught our students how pick a platform that makes sense for them (and to not to overthink it like crazy).

Then, as a bonus, we used the old Facebook Group lessons as one example of how these principles could manifest.

A common misconception amongst new educators is that more = better. A three-page lesson is better than a one-page lesson because it has more information.

The reality is that focused = better, and this often means less.

I’ll often ask clients to identify the single takeaway they want their students to leave a particular lesson with. Once identified, all information has to be helping them realize and understand that takeaway.

Additional information that’s related but is more of an “aside” can be positioned as a bonus, callout, or some other clear separation from the core materials.

I’ll also often utilize a “Go Deeper” section and link to additional resources if a student finds a particular subject interesting and wants to dive deeper into it.

But, generally speaking, most often our students are coming to us to be delivered the most pertinent information to accomplishing their goal — not for a high quantity of information they have to make sense of.

Just like the misconception of more = better, more serious does not always equal better.

I think about this both for the educator and for the student experience.

For the educator, try and find joy in the process of building. Maybe this requires you to redefine what progress looks like to you, or to adapt your work or productivity habits. If you hate the process and you’re solely in it for the end result, not only will it be a bumpy road for you, the quality of education is likely to decrease.

For students, absorbing impactful education and having fun are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they often go hand-in-hand.

At the Online Trainer Academy, we had a compliment generator built into the core right-hand side bar with a new compliment every time a student logged in.

We also had a host of easter eggs ranging from Fresh Prince references to adorable dog photos scattered about, and we encouraged students to let us know when they’ve found something.

Every post I make, my website, you name it, has at least one picture of my dog, Charlie. He’s the star of the show for me.

These fun, light-hearted additions took nothing away from our credibility or reputation, but they did put our personalities on display and make the process just a bit more enjoyable for everybody involved.

So, consider how you can lean into your brand and make your students smile along the way.

I put this point last, but it can be the linchpin to the rest.

There are two lines of thinking here:

One is asking yourself, how is this product/course serving as a stepping stone to my life/business goals and aspirations?

I am a major believer in identifying your “why” when it comes to business and life, and ensuring that your business decisions are not conflicting with the higher-level goals and dreams you have in life.

The second question here is, what problem am I solving for my people?

It’s in your best interest to consider why people would buy your course, and the unique value you’re offering.

Why would somebody decide to enroll in your course vs. buying services from you or taking advantage of another offer you have?

Who are your competitors? Why would somebody choose you over them?

What will students leave your course with that they didn’t have before, and why is that valuable to them?

These are fundamental questions to any product or service, and you’ll save some avoidable missteps by considering them early.

Mistake #1: Favoring Tactics Over Principles. Principles are the amalgamation of a ton of tactics that all work to accomplish the same goal.

Mistake #2: Equating ‘More’ With ‘Better’. Focused = better. And focused often equals less.

Mistake #3: Not Having Fun. Delivering great, impactful education and making your students smile and laugh are not mutually exclusive. Ask yourself how you can inject a bit of fun into the process — both for you and your students.

Mistake #4: Not Knowing Why You’re Building. Know why you’re building for you and your life/business goals, as well as what value you’re bringing to students.