Course Lab: Lessons from Successful Online Course Creators

In this special episode Abe Crystal, CEO of the online course platform Ruzuku, shares with co-host Danny Iny a fresh approach for adding online courses to your business. A detailed description of this approach can be found in Abe’s new book, The Business of Courses.

Show Notes

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To Abe Crystal, CEO of the online course platform Ruzuku, books are written to be read.  Trying to simply translate a book directly into a video course may wind up creating something that’s too long, too digressive. So what should you do instead? You need a fresh approach to how to fit courses into your business. Abe writes in-depth about how to implement such an approach in his newly published book, The Business of Courses.

     In this special episode of Course Lab, Danny and Abe discuss Abe’s book, what business owners should think about when creating courses today, and what the coming years may look like for the online course industry.

In this episode we discuss:

  •  Abe’s reasons for writing the book, The Business of Courses.
  • How course creators should think about courses.
  • Powerful  strategies you can use to help potential clients discover you and your course.
  • Why turning a book with great content and relevant information into a video course is usually a big mistake, and what to do instead. 
  • The 5 phases of the customer learning journey.
  • What’s coming in the next 3, 6, 12 months for the online course industry.


“Over the past year, we've seen a wave of prominent thought leaders, as well as new startups, really highlighting the value of intensive group learning.” – Abe Crystal


Guest bio:  Abe Crystal is the CEO and co-founder of Ruzuku, an online course platform focused on student engagement. He’s also a strategic advisor to Mirasee

     Abe helps authors, coaches, speakers, and other independent experts create their own online courses and learning communities. He and his team at Ruzuku are on a mission to usher in a new wave of independent, authentic teachers around the world and invest them with the tools and support to succeed—everything the clients need to create, sell, and teach amazing courses.

     Abe is also the author of The Business of Courses, about the process of adding online courses to your business’s product and services offerings.

     Abe is an adjunct professor in the School of Education at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.  He specializes in learning design and user experience research and earned his Ph.D. in human-computer interaction at UNC-Chapel Hill.


Resources or websites mentioned in this episode:
  1. Mirasee
  2. Abe Crystal’s Ruzuku website
  3. Abe’s  LinkedIn
  4. Abe’s book

Credits:
  • Guest - Abe Crystal
  • Hosts - Danny Iny & Abe Crystal 
  • Producer - Cynthia Lamb 
  • Executive producer - Danny Iny
  • Assembled by - Geoff Govertsen
  • Audio Post Supervisor - Evan Miles, Christopher Martin
  • Audio Post Production - Post Office Sound
  • Music soundscape - Chad Michael Snavely


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If you have a question for Course Lab, put the show title in the subject line and send it to podcasts@mirasee.com

Music and SFX credits: 
• Track Title: Bossa BB
Artist Name(s): Marie
Writer Name: Chelsea McGough
Publisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTION

• Track Title: Carousel Lights
Artist Name(s): Chelsea McGough
Writer Name: Chelsea McGough
Writer Name: Matthew Wigton
Publisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTION
Publisher Name: BOSS SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONS


Episode transcript:  A Fresh Approach  for Adding Online Courses to Your Business (Abe Crystal): coming soon

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Creators and Guests

Host
Abe Crystal
Host
Danny Iny
Producer
Cynthia Lamb

What is Course Lab: Lessons from Successful Online Course Creators?

Want to create a hugely successful online course, one that has a major impact on the lives of your students? If you want to learn how to create online courses from the best, you turn to Mirasee; and if you want to host that course, you can’t go wrong using the powerful platform, Ruzuku.

Ruzuku co-founder Abe Crystal and Mirasee founder and CEO Danny Iny know what it takes to stand out and be successful in the online courses industry. And now they’re teaming up to share this intel with you in their new Course Lab podcast.

In every episode, Course Lab showcases an entrepreneur/course creator who is nailing it with their online course -- and not because they’re teaching people how to make more money. In fact, most of these creators occupy unusual or overlooked niches, like music, writing for video games, overcoming inherent bias, and finding your life purpose.

Turns out, the key to their success all comes down to their online course design. In this podcast, Danny and Abe reveal the most important design tactics that are making all the difference for these online course creators -- and how you can implement them in your own online course. So if you want to create a successful online course that changes the lives of your students, this is your big chance to learn how it’s done from the best in the industry!