How do you decide what content not to include in a course to avoid overwhelming learners?

Hi instructors,

When creating an course, it’s tempting to include everything you know about the topic, especially when you’re a real expert in your field. Of course, you want your students to get as much value as possible. But too much information can have the opposite effect, leaving learners confused or even causing them to abandon the course.

The key is finding that sweet spot between thorough and overwhelming. That often means making tough choices about what to leave out.

Therefore we want to know today:
How do you decide what content not to include in a course to avoid overwhelming learners?

Share your approach below!

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ICMILEARNING

Great question! This is something I constantly think about while designing my courses, especially in banking and finance where there’s just SO much depth.

What works for me is starting with the learner’s goal. For example, if I’m building a course for someone who wants to start a job in retail banking, I focus only on the must-know, practical stuff — like how savings accounts work, basics of loans, and customer handling tips. I avoid deep-diving into complex credit risk models or Basel III norms — not because they aren’t important, but because they’ll probably scare off someone who’s just getting started.

Similarly, if I were making a course in photography, I wouldn't start with lens diffraction and light metering. I’d keep it to framing, lighting basics, and using a smartphone well — because that’s what a beginner needs to gain confidence and momentum.

Another trick one can use is giving optional “extra” lessons at the end or in a separate bonus section. That way, learners who are curious can go deeper, but others don’t feel overwhelmed.

Basically, I ask myself: “Will this content help the learner take one solid step forward, or will it confuse them?” If it’s the latter, I save it for another day 😊

Looking forward to learning how others approach this!

Cheers,

Shailesh, ICMI Learning

CarlosMartinez

Thank you, @MarinaT for the opportunity to participate in this forum.

When I first started on Udemy, I came from a very academic background — I had a Ph.D., had taught at universities, and was used to delivering 50-minute lectures to graduate students. So naturally, my early courses reflected that: very technical, very dense, and aimed at a level that doesn’t necessarily represent the majority of learners on Udemy.

Yes, those courses did get some sales. But I soon realized that by speaking to such a narrow audience, I was limiting both my reach and the impact I could have on this platform. So what did I do? I started looking closely at the most successful instructors — the ones with hundreds of thousands of reviews and millions of students. I studied their tone, how they structure their courses, the kinds of exercises they include… and I realized something important: they are speaking to real people, not academic committees.

So my advice —humbly, because I’m not the top-selling instructor and I don’t have all the answers— is to learn from those who have figured this out. Not by copying their content, of course, but by understanding the audience they are serving and the level they are targeting.

In my case, this led me to shorten my lectures, simplify the language, and make sure that exercises could be completed within the course itself, without needing outside research. Sometimes we come in thinking, “I don’t want to make it too easy — I want students to work hard and earn it.” But on Udemy, what really works is making things as easy and actionable as possible. Because when students can move forward smoothly, they stay engaged, complete more content, leave better ratings — and the algorithm rewards that.

So, to avoid overwhelming learners, the first step is to stay humble, observe what works, and be willing to adapt our teaching style — not by abandoning our essence, but by bringing our content closer to the real people on the other side of the screen.

RonErez

Hi @Marina

A lot of the content in my courses comes from student requests. I do try to plan my courses better now so the topics fit together well. Usually I start by filling in all of the section titles in the curriculum with no lectures. That's pretty much it.

In some of my earlier courses, there wasn’t as much planning. I also have one course that feels a bit overwhelming. I’d like to remove some parts, but I worry it might be unfair to students who bought it and haven’t reached that content yet.

Coach.Hector

This is a great topic.
In my case, I usually start each class with a base story to connect emotionally and set the stage. Then I go one objective at a time, covering the topic fully (sometimes stretching to 10–12 minutes). To avoid just talking to the camera, I use visuals and graphics to make the explanation clearer.

I always move from simple to complex and keep a throughline that ties all classes back to the global goal of the course. After finishing each script, I run it through ChatGPT as an evaluator, asking it to rate from 1 to 10 aspects like Engagement, Real Value, Accuracy, and Logic. This helps me simplify and refine before recording.

I’d love to know: what indicators do you use to measure student engagement?

Cheers,
Héctor

Col (Dr) Shabbar Shahid (Veteran)

@MarinaT Interesting topic for discussion indeed.

When I first started creating online courses, I poured my heart into them—detailed lessons, polished examples, and hours of preparation. The disappointing part? Almost as soon as they were published, they would get pirated.

So I tried a different approach. Instead of releasing a complete, elaborate course right away, I began with shorter, crisp versions-just enough content to meet the platform’s quality standards and provide real value. As expected, these too were pirated almost immediately.

But here’s where it got interesting: I continued to build on those courses gradually, adding new lessons, refining the material, and incorporating feedback directly from learners. I noticed a pattern-the initial versions were always pirated, but the upgraded and improved versions were not. (Probably the pirate bots are hunting for new launches only)

It turned out to be a surprisingly effective way to counter piracy while also creating courses that were more engaging and learner-focused. In a way, what started as a challenge became a unique strategy: let the pirates take the “bare bones,” while genuine learners benefit from the constantly evolving, richer version.

(I sincerely wanted to share this with fellow instructors but I hope I am not revealing the anti piracy strategy to the Pirates. If that be so, you may delete this post)

DamianMcKinnon

I have been a trainer for much of my career and I found having a clear outcome in mind by the end of the course is the best method for controlling and directing your course content. The student should be able to achieve an outcome by the end of the course and you should have a clear idea in your mind of exactly what that is. Break that process into steps and each step is a section. Each section and each lesson begins with you explaining the step ahead, executing that step, then talking about the step you just completed and how that moves us toward the outcome/next step. Why is as important as how.

Whenever you create content or steps that do not move toward that outcome you're meandering.