Tools and Software to Create Online Courses

 

You’re reading this because you’re interested in creating a course online—and you’d like some help getting started. Well, I’m here to tell you that you’re not alone. In fact, there are hundreds of thousands of people who feel overwhelmed. The path to creating an online course is a lot easier than you might think, and there are tools and software out there that can help make the process painless for both you and your customers.

There is a myth floating around in the online course world that to make a good course, you need to have the best and the most expensive software on the market. Many people think that if you don’t have access to or the budget for expensive software that costs a fortune, then you can’t make a good course. That’s not really true. In this article, I’m going to show you all the free and affordable tools and software that you need to build, deliver and monetise your first online course in the next couple of weeks.

 

 

1. Udemy

This website is dedicated to providing you with a platform where you can teach and learn from other people. It is an online learning platform where you can create courses and lessons for free. You can use the platform to make money by selling your courses. But, it also allows you to share your knowledge for free. So, if you want to start teaching others without spending money on your course, then Udemy is the best choice.

 

2. Teachable

Teachable is one of the most popular LMS for online course creators today. It was created with the purpose of making the process of creating a course online simple and easy. It is simple to use and has a free plan to get started. It allows you to create multiple courses at once and allows you to add modules, quizzes, and more. It has everything you need to deliver your first online course, including an editor, themes, and a marketplace that lets you sell courses to other people. It also provides instructors with the ability to create payment plans, track student progress, and offer certificate programs.

 

3. Screencast-O-Matic

Screencast-O-Matic is an easy to use online tool that allows you to quickly create a video of whatever is on your computer. It allows you to record your computer screen and audio simultaneously. I’ve been using it for a few months now, and it’s a great little utility. Before I started using this, I was recording videos through Camtasia, which was a nightmare for a number of reasons: firstly, it’s a big, clunky program, and secondly, it’s very expensive. Screencast-O-Matic is free and easy as pie to use!

 

4. Smartphone

Recording videos is one of the most challenging tasks in course creation. You will need a good quality camera and a microphone.  But recording a video is not as difficult as it might seem. You can actually do it on your phone. I personally recorded my video for my first course with my iPhone. There are also free apps on the Android and iOS app store that you can use to shoot a video.

 

5. Google Slides

Google Slides is a very popular tool for creating presentations and slideshows, and it works on both desktop and mobile. It is similar to PowerPoint, but it is made by Google. It even allows for collaborative editing of presentations, so you can share a presentation with your team and have them add comments, feedback and suggestions.

 

6. Canva

Have you ever thought that making a simple infographic is too complicated? If you want to create a quick graphic or video for your online course, then Canva is one of the best tools to use. Canva is a free online graphic design tool that you can use to create any type of graphics you need for your online course. Canva has over 60 million active users, and it has been around for over 10 years now. It has thousands of professionally-designed templates that you can use to create infographics, social media graphics and even slides for your online course. You can also use Canva to create graphics for websites and email newsletters. You can even choose the file format for your designs (e.g. JPG, PNG, PDF, etc.) and have Canva automatically optimise your graphics for you.

 

7. Unsplash

You can’t find any free stock photos online? Unsplash is a website where you can download thousands of high-quality stock photos for free. This website has been around for over 9 years now, and it has become one of the most popular websites for free stock photos. This website has been used by many big brands.

So, what makes Unsplash special? Well, you can download images from this website in a wide range of sizes, and you don’t have to worry about copyright issues. The best thing about Unsplash is that it’s updated every single day with new photos. So, you’ll never run out of fresh ideas when it comes to using images in your course.

 

8. Zoom

Zoom is a video conferencing tool used for live meetings, lectures, training sessions, and conferences. It allows participants to chat, see presentations, and take notes together. It also has a screen sharing feature that allows you to show the screen on your computer. This is a great tool if you want to teach live courses because it’s very easy to set up. You can download a trial version of Zoom and start using it immediately. Once you’re ready to launch your course, you can purchase the paid version.

 

9. Calendly

It will help you save time by scheduling your calls with potential students and clients. When you schedule a meeting with someone, you don’t have to send them back and forth links to try to schedule the meeting and then ask them to pick a time. This eliminates unnecessary emails and allows the person to schedule a meeting on their own time.

 

10. ConvertKit

ConvertKit is a great choice for beginners who don’t have a list of subscribers yet. It is my favourite email marketing tool and provides a variety of excellent features. It integrates with all the platforms I use and has a lot of automation options. Their autoresponder series allows you to create automation that is based on actions a subscriber takes rather than a specific time frame. For example, you can create an automation that automatically sends out a welcome email to new subscribers, then an email every three days after that, and so forth. Or you can set up a series of emails that are automatically sent based on a subscriber’s behaviour in your course, such as if they reach a specific lesson. Plus, the platform is growing at a fast pace, there’s a great support team, and their prices are really affordable.

 

11. Zapier

Zapier is one of the most common tools in use today by online course creators. It’s a tool which links your web apps together so you can automate your workflow. For example, say you wanted all the new customers who purchase on your website to be automatically added to a ConvertKit mailing list, simply set up a zap which links your ConvertKit and Teachable accounts, and you’re good to go. Zapier is great because they have a massive list of integrations with popular applications, so you can really get creative with your workflows. When you join, you get free access to the Zapier dashboard, and you can create a maximum of 5 zaps per month, but you can always upgrade to Pro for unlimited zaps.

 

12. Evernote

Evernote is one of the best tools to help you organise all of your thoughts, articles and research that you will collect while creating your course. It is a great tool for note-taking and brainstorming. I use it for the latter, but you can use it for both. It is a virtual storage container, a to-do list, a notebook, and a research hub – all in one. You can create to-do lists, write notes, take pictures, record audio snippets, and make voice recordings. It is a free app that is available on all platforms (mobile and desktop), and it allows you to save all of your work easily in one organised place.

 

13. Google Drive

If you are planning to create and sell a course online, then you will need a place to store all the files you will use in your course. Google Drive is a cloud-based storage service that lets you store, manage and share your files and documents in one place. It’s free and easy to use. Google Drive is the place you will be keeping all the stuff you will be using, so set up an account and make sure you know how to use it.

 

14. ClickUp

ClickUp is a cloud-based project management and collaboration tool. It is simple, easy to use and can be used for any type of project. From managing the content for your blog to planning an online course, ClickUp is perfect for managing your projects. It has a very low learning curve, and anyone can learn to use it quickly.

 

Conclusion:

In conclusion, this isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list of every tool and software out there. That would take up an entire book. But, I’ve shared only the basic tools and software you’ll need to sell a course online effectively. With the right tools and software, you can create a course, sell it online, and charge a very good price. The truth is, the tools you use to create and sell your course online don’t matter all that much. What matters is how you make use of them and what’s in them that allows you to use them effectively.

A note about online learning.  While there is much debate about the effectiveness of online learning (check out this article for some detractor details), the motivation of adult learners is what makes them perfect for this mode of learning delivery.  I think that an inclusion of how to learn best online is a component of responsible online course creation.

For the entire section of our ‘Create Online Courses’ articles, click here .

 

FAQs

What AI Can I Use to Create a Course?

AI helper: LearnWorlds provides an AI assistant that improves output quality and expedites the construction of courses. It facilitates the creation of course outlines and the repackaging of current material from an innovative angle.

How Long Does It Take to Create an Online Course?

This is a question that a lot of wannabe creators ask themselves when they want to launch a new online course. The amount of time required to create a course truly depends on your unique situation.   I commonly create courses in an hour on topics that I am very familiar with and using AI tools.

How Do You Structure a Course?