5 Lessons Educators Acquired from Creating Cohort Courses

The concept of learning in communities is becoming increasingly popular amongst both creators and students alike.

"The energy of a group that is moving with each other in real-time can be like a ship that is moving already," says Kimberly Ann Johnson who is a somatic experience practitioner as well as author and creator of a course. "You don't have to start the engine or maintain it independently. When you board the vessel and then let the ship as well as the passengers assist you. The motivation is usually greater in continuing when there are others traveling to the same destination, and also sailing through the identical waters ."

Here, three course creators share what they've learned through creating cohort courses to help you along your own teaching journey:

1. The power of community learning can be found in the communities that we learn from.

Johnson says that since she deals with sensitive topics -- like trauma and sexuality Johnson was initially sceptical of giving online classes, or even in a group. She was however amazed to discover that teaching the subjects in an online cohort proved to be more effective when compared with one-onone. "Online classes that are based on cohorts permit people who don't have access to therapy, or who are too shy to go to an in-person session to be able to engage according to their comfort," she says.

According to Johnson, a cohort learning approach helps create the feeling of closeness and mutual understanding between students. she claims that when students share their stories, struggles, and experiences that the shame of their past is removed. "Many problems my students have are societal as well as collective issues they struggle with personally. We live in a world of many disconnects and loneliness and isolation, sharing experiences with other students is an extremely powerful experience," she says.

Since experiencing the success of teaching a cohort course, Johnson is an advocate of community-based learning particularly in her field of work. When we learn in community, we gain from the healing process of the others in our community," she says. "Trauma and sex are such loaded topics, often shrouded in shame. In seeking support in these areas there is a challenge to identify the appropriate professional in addition to the time and cost to see them. The social nervous system is engaged so that students learn how to interact in real time and discover how much they would like to communicate with each other and get to experiment with exposing themselves. They face their fears about social interactions, misgivings and apprehensions, and repattern some of their fears and habits in groups ."

Like Johnson, Joanna Wiebe, the creator of conversion copywriting and Copyhackers, has found much success with the cohort learning model. It is not just that does community learning work in the way that it connects students who can collaborate and share knowledge but it also boosts students' success. "We are social animals and we all have different perspectives," says Wiebe. "Being part of a group brings "fun" to learning, along with a wide range of opinions. We've found that with diversity, our users benefit more from the community than they do the lessons ."

Wiebe believes that watching her students develop and grow in their business has been the biggest win of learning through cohorts. "We've also collaborated with and employed a lot of past students," she adds.

2. Combining cohort and self-paced learning can increase accessibility

Jocelyn Thomspon, creator of WorkVision Consulting, first experienced group learning online during the course of anti-racism for four weeks she attended earlier in the year. Her group had weekly video meetings, and although the meetings were not mandatory, there were usually between 10 and 20 people in attendance. After the course was created, she's been in contact with a lot of her classmates. "I knew that when I designed my course, I wanted people to have similar experiences sharing knowledge," she says.

Johnson as well as Wiebe also offer both styles of instruction. Johnson's cohort-based model will be taught once a week via Zoom as well as the self-paced classes are available at any time that is suitable for students. Both self-paced and cohort courses, students can join Facebook groups to converse with each other.

The self-paced classes of Wiebe allow students to select which courses they require, whereas her classes with cohorts provide specific instruction. In her 10x Freelance Copywriter course, one module is dropped each month over seven months. She uses Circle, Slack, and Zoom to keep connected between live classes.

3. Cohort learning helps to keep students engaged

Wiebe claims that the main difference between cohort and self-paced courses is accountability. "People don't like to fall behind and feel left out," she says.

In her constant search for ways to keep students interested and engaged, Wiebe says that an active community, as well as subscription-based membership helps to motivate students. "People generally are more active when they're paying for something rather than simply buying something and then forgetting about it," she explains.

The courses of Wiebe also come with accountability ambassadors -- affectionately named 'badassadors' along with achievements badges given students when they reach certain goals. The 'badassadors' manage the community and are there to aid students at Copyhackers solve problems and implement their ideas for changes to their business. Students in the courses are also inspired by the fact that the lessons in the class will transform students' businesses if they adhere to the instructions and follow the teachings. "Plus, in the community students have the opportunity to interact with thousands of students who began exactly the same way as they are, but have the success they were hoping for," she says.

For Johnson posting short live video clips in her students' Facebook group assists in keeping her students interested and motivated. In addition, she messages with reminders or 'pep talks,' as she calls them, between sessions so that students understand that in the event that they're stressed or skipped a class, they're able to be exactly where they are. Plus, she creates short summaries of each lesson for each week, so that students are able to revisit it and center themselves every day on the week's lessons. She also records videos and other audio that is that are specific to the lesson of each week so that they don't have to go back in time and listen to the whole class.

Thompson will be using the same approach when her course is launched this month. She'll send weekly email updates as well as connecting to her students via LinkedIn. Additionally, she's incorporating tests at the end of each chapter, to ensure that students are active.

While the use of community-based learning could aid in naturally increasing the motivation of students and increase accountability but there is still work to be done by the instructor to keep students interested.

For Johnson the biggest issue she faces in implementing cohort-based learning is what she can do to get students to attend while not making them feel as if the material is just one more thing they have to complete. Johnson also admits that it was difficult to determine how much support they would need in order to ensure a successful experience and deliver on her promises. "I must ensure that the students get the help they need when they encounter a problem. However, every time I teach I make sure that the structure is improved to ensure that students have an extra net," she adds.

4. Collaborative learning may lead to the creation of the possibility of repeat students.

For Johnson her, the secret for her to scale up her classes is by attracting repeat students, instead of constantly trying to find new ones. "I make sure that there is a sense of community between students that has students wanting to return to learn with each other," she says. "The community atmosphere can be a powerful force. Do not underestimate the power of an effective group bond in guiding students to success. Many students are worried about how their group will be kept and what their boundaries will be. But the majority are amazed by how effective and constructive the shares are ."

For Wiebe to find the best students was the main factor for the growth of Copyhackers' courses. It's been an incremental process. "We need students who will be willing to work hard and actually add value to our community," she says. "We have students in the first 10x freelance copywriter group that are still in the membership longer than 30 months since when the last lesson was released exclusively for the community aspect ."

5. Teaching a cohort course requires you to hone in the strengths you have already developed.

Johnson states that when making a course that is based on a group it is important to understand your strengths. Creators need to consider whether they prefer to teach with a tight framework or are able to play around. "What works for you and what you love transfers onto your students," she says. "They are coming as much to you as they are to learn. So make choices in accordance with what you feel will light your fire up. I taught all my courses live, as that's what I love to do. Then for the courses I didn't wish to teach live but I felt were important I took the transcripts, edited them and then recorded them. It was more true to my natural rhythm ."

"I have guided thousands females through taking back their authority through sex as well as money and parenthood," continues Johnson. "Now, we have a robust group of people all over the world that we can refer to as a "community." ."