Since the spiked of eLearning, there are newly coined terms in digital learning such as micro-school, online academy, learning environment, etc. They evolved simultaneously with eLearning. Today, let's explore and find out about one of them--the online academy. Who builds it, and how to build it using Teachfloor.

What is an online academy?

An online academy is an educational digital space where courses and other educational products are being offered. Think of a physical academy and imagine it in the digital world. It's similar to it, however, everything can be accessed online by anyone and there is no physical campus.

Who should build one?

1. Bootcamp Founders

Founders who designed Bootcamp programs mostly built their online academies. Their educational digital space or their learning platforms are commonly white-labeled by an LMS solution. With an LMS, an online academy is a no-brainer to build. You can build yours in minutes instead of weeks, or months. That's why Bootcamp founders choose LMS to build their academies instead of building their own from scratch.

2. Edupreneurs

Edupreneurs are educators and entrepreneurs at the same time. Basically, they are these thought leaders, course creators, and educators who share their ideas to the world using the internet. Edupreneurs build their online academy like Bootcamp founders. The only difference is most edupreneurs are solopreneurs who are still starting to build their educational businesses.

3. L&D Teams

Nowadays, companies and organizations build online academies inside their L&D department. Most of them strengthen their Learning & Development to train and upskill their employees. Learning has been a norm in the workforce in order to increase the employee retention rate and the company's growth.

How to build your online academy using Teachfloor

1. Choose a learning platform

Apparently, an online academy is mostly built into a learning platform. Since it's a digital space where learners can take courses and avail of other educational products, an LMS or a learning platform is always a solution. Choosing the best for your online academy can be critical. Choose the one that has all the features you need and can automate some of your tasks.

Teachfloor is an all-in-one platform for your online academy. It solves the hassles of founders, edupreneurs, and L&D teams in building their online academies. Since Teachfloor has all the features you need to automate and optimize your courses, you can build your academy in just few minutes. Let's find out how:

Sign up for a free trial

The good thing about Teachfloor is it offers free trial to first-time users. We know how difficult it is to choose a platform for your online academy among thousands of LMSs out there. Using it should feel instinctively and effortless.

Watch tutorials and how to guides

The learning curve of using a platform is another effortful agenda for any founders, edupreneurs, and L&D teams out there. We understand you! And we make sure Teachfloor is instinctive and easy to learn for first-time users. We provide tutorials and how-to guides to support your learning along the way.

Schedule 1:1 with our customer support

If you don't feel like watching or reading these guides, you can always reach out to our customer support. Our staff can give you a live demo on how to use the platform for free! You can ask questions and inform our support on how you will use the platform so the team can give you helpful advice.

2. Validate your course or training

Creating a course or training can be overwhelmingly difficult especially if you're a first-time course creator or a corporate trainer. In Teachfloor, we suggest you validate it first before building your online academy.

1. Identify your topic

In validating your course or training, you also need to identify first and validate your topic. Is it something that interests your audience or employees? Or is it something that solves their challenges? Validate with them and see if it's a highly-valued topic. Ask for their feedback. Schedule interviews. And see what they really need.

2. Design your curriculum

After validating your topic, what is the right model for your online academy? Should you use a hybrid cohort-based model? Or a self-paced one? How about a community-centric approach? Again, this will highly depend on the needs of your audience or employees. How do they learn best? When do they learn best? Designing your curriculum should be the heart of your course or training creation.

See: Course Curriculum: An Ultimate Guide to Design Effectively

3. Get inspiration from course templates

In Teachfloor, we provide a comprehensive course template for your online course and training. Whether you are onboarding employees or designing boot camps, we got you here!

Get inspired with our course templates in different models like self-paced learning, and part-time or full-time hybrid cohort-based courses.

4. Create and reuse your content materials

Collecting and creating your content is included in designing your curriculum. Do you already create content before for a specific module? Do you need to pre-record videos for asynchronous learning with your students? Or do you want to reuse game mechanics you've used before?

Whatever it is, feel free to reuse, recreate, or create new content that would suit your curriculum design. Teachfloor has several features and you can use a different mediums such as videos, articles, micro boards, quizzes, peer reviews, surveys etc.

Price your course

Note: This might only be applicable to founders and edupreneurs. For L&D teams, it depends on what type of system you have. Are you also providing and selling your educational products outside your company? If yes, this will also be important for you.

Pricing your course or training is crucial and dependent on your course model. Self-paced courses are much cheaper than cohort-based courses because of their features and characteristics. Pricing can also differ on the course topics, whether the topic is an in-demand skill or not in the job market.

The best thing about using Teachfloor is that collecting fees and pricing is automated. You just need to set it up on the platform.

See: How to Strategize Pricing for Your Cohort-Based Courses

3. Launch your online academy!

So, let's visit your checklist -- course curriculum, check! Learning platform -- check! It's time to create and launch your online academy in hours or even in minutes!

1. Go Pro or Business!

Make sure you go Pro or Business account. With just for only $79, you can get all features and build your online academy business using Teachfloor. If you aren't sure what package is right for your academy, feel free to reach us or chat with us directly.

2. Define your branding

Teachfloor offers a white-labeling solution. You can brand your online academy with your own company's branding, and not Teachfloor's. You can upload your logo, brand colors, and upload pictures and graphics on the brand, so the feels would be 100% yours!

3. Use a course template

If one of our course templates matches your course topic and model, feel free to use them as your template! It would totally save you a lot of time in designing your course or training. Our course templates have instructions, examples and tips for easy navigation.

4. Upload content such as videos, SCORM files, docs

Now that you're creating your online academy on the platform, feel free to upload the necessary content for your course or training. Teachfloor allows you to upload several formats from SCORM files, docs, links, videos, app integrations, surveys, peer reviews, etc. Tip: Don't forget to save your course from time to time.

5. Schedule your course

Teachfloor is highly designed for a scalable hybrid cohort-based course model. We are the only LMS so far that has the feature of scheduling your lessons according to your plans. In addition, your enrolled students will be automatically notified of the set schedule. It's customizable and personalized.

6. Publish your course

Wohoo! After uploading your content, designing your curriculum, you may now publish your course! Congrats! Don't forget to invite your students so they will receive automated notifications straight to their inbox.

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