Intentional community design for course creators
Intentional community design for course creators
Intentional community design for course creators improves retention when implementation is the goal.
When I was a kid (in the 80s), I remember the day I learned how to insert a floppy disk into a computer and found out there were fun games like Snake and Lemmings that kept me on a computer for hours at a time. It was about fifth grade when I told a friend, “Wouldn’t it be cool if we could stay home in our pajamas and do classes on a computer?!”
That day arrived long ago but didn’t enter mainstream schools until a global pandemic changed how students and adults learn. This shift is now the norm for all learners.
The eLearning market could reach $1 trillion by 2028, according to data from SellCoursesOnline.com. Specifically, self-paced or self-study courses project growth of $7.2 billion between now and 2026.
While online learning is adopted by most, it doesn’t mean that it’s the best way to encourage students to collaborate, connect, or communicate with each other.
In a self-study course, the instructor builds out training, resources, lessons, and homework, but the participants can choose how much time they want to dedicate to the course.
The benefit of self-study is that they can work on their timeframe and at their own pace. The challenge is that there are no deadlines or due dates. A live course or program creates a sense of urgency.
A course by itself isn’t a community. If community is your goal, a self-study course is not sufficient. To offer a course, you need to develop a community strategy connected to it. The creator economy is divided between course creators and those launching membership sites. Both offer different experiences for members.
Intentional community design for course creators The challenges with self-study or self-paced courses
Intentional community design for course creators
There’s a massive opportunity for course builders to combine their education with an online community to enhance the student’s social network and build relationships – a skill they desperately need to succeed.
Your course and cohort strategy can include a variety of methods, such as live office hours or coworking sessions to bring together members. Consider designing a pairing or accountability program to keep participants on track.
The challenge with this structure is that you can only retain your members for a short time if you have a large audience and a community manager to support them. That’s because members may join a community for your content; they stay because of the connections they make and the relationships they build by going through something together.
Creating a sense of community with self-study participants isn’t impossible, but sustaining it takes effort. Members like something new or unique. If you don’t provide them with another opportunity— let’s say, working with you after they finish the course — then they will not know what to do next.
Worse yet, most people don’t finish online courses and struggle to keep track of their education goals. With no deadline, there’s no reason to “hurry up” and finish it, and they may decide later that they don’t need it anymore and leave. All these things are known once you talk to your members.
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Closing the implementation gap
through immersive learning
Intentional community design for course creators
An immersive, time-based course or cohort offers the student individual teacher support, group coaching, and structured course materials with discussions.
This structure has a set timeframe (i.e., eight weeks, 12 weeks) to offer students access to the host and each other and provide a container to share their experiences while working through the course.
The difference between an immersive course and a self-study course is that the individuals meet at a specific time for additional group support.
A few clients I’ve worked with have decided to host challenges in their communities at different times. Sometimes, a challenge can reinvigorate passive members; other times, it can help a new community get off the ground. The basis of a challenge is that it allows members to take action and compete against each other in a game that sometimes—but not always—has a winner.
Elisha from The Mindful Living Collective wanted to kick off his new community structure with a twenty-one-day meditation challenge that encouraged members to join the new daily meditations called “The Daily Dose.” Led by trained facilitators, these featured guided meditations and brief check-ins. Because we had previously surveyed his members, we could identify the ideal time to host the challenge quickly.
We compiled quotes, phrases, and inspirational images to schedule a post for each day. Then, we invited members to join the challenge. This inspired action in passive community members and encouraged active members to participate in new ways.
The community already had a forum for conversation, so we prompted participants to share what it was like to attend the Daily Dose, either before or after the meditation. We also told them it was okay to show up only when they could. This level of engagement helped build more authentic interest in the program and was also an effective way to help members feel heard, seen, and valued.
During the challenge, we notified members that the community structure would change. To offer a better experience and bring in trained facilitators, the community would shift from a free space to a donation-based membership.
Acting as a community transition manager, I was to inform people of the changes and guide as many members as possible to the donation page. I emphasized how much we valued their time (and the facilitators’ contributions). The challenge inspired those who did see the notifications to reactivate their experience and recommit to a life of mindful living.
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Intentional community design for course creators
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