Tips to create course faster

[ShubhiSaxena]

Course creation takes a lot of time and sometimes being productive is hard. I would really like to know from all the instructors how do you stay focused and productive? What kind of schedule do you follow to complete courses? Your guidance would really be helpful. Thanks.

[GregReverdiau · Accepted solution]

Hi @ShubhiSaxena 

Making a realistic schedule and sticking to it is important. There are many steps to producing a course and what has worked for me in the past is to mix and match all the different steps so I'm not always doing the same thing for an extended period of time. 

For example, you could record 7-10 hours of content over 2 days, then edit it over a couple of days, then upload everything to Udemy the next day, then publish your course. Personally, I like to record 2-3 hours at max, then spend the afternoon editing (during my lunch break, the computer creates my proxy files so I don't have to waste time waiting for that to happen). In the evening my computer exports all the videos while I sleep, directly to a Dropbox folder, which uploads by itself while I sleep. Then in the morning, I load those videos in Udemy using the bulk uploader and while the videos are getting converted by Udemy, I record my next 2-3 hours of video. 

Getting more proficient at editing will also save you a ton of time. I used to spend 4-5 hours to edit 1 hour of content. Now that my process is more streamlined, I spend about 2 hours to edit 1 hour of content. Big time saver! 

What are your main issues or bigger time wasters at this point in the process? 

[ShubhiSaxena · Accepted solution]

@GregReverdiau Thanks for offering a detailed solution. Batching the work would definitely be a good thing for me as you suggest.

Currently the biggest issue is that things get delayed. I do a task then suddenly another task seems important so I end up doing less. 

[Ekta]

Hi Shubhi, 

It a great question. Staying on track is important. When off track,  better to come back quickly. 

Since you need to be creative whileaking content a break also serves as a breather.  

This is how I stay focussed :

Categorize and break your course creation task. Mine are :

1) Outline,  research, Script writing

2) video shoots,  screen recordings, audio files. 

3) editing 

4) prepare downloads in PDF. 

I take up things in batch.  I complete point 1 and point 4 simultaneously.  I complete the scripting first. Mark the lecture numbers also. So redo is avoided  while recording. 

Mostly first I  make my own outline.  This keeps my content original. Then do the research and improve it. 

Keep adding parts to the main outline. 

Only once this step is complete I start recording. I record everything in a batch again,  mark and save my files to edit in batch for next week. 

Right now, for me it takes time. I follow a tight scripting schedule.  For e. g.  lecture 1  to be finished by (date)

This has to be done to stay productive.  Since we are our own boss.  By following this it's easier for me to be productive. I can easily script for two to three lectures ( 10 minutes each)   in a weeks time. So in two months 8-12 lectures can be scripted. 

You could just do one in a week and see it will start becoming easier. Sometimes it's just the load of work that needs to be done bogs us down. So little steps are also good to be productive. 

After scripting I take 3 days for recording and a week's time for editing. I rerun everything again before producing.  So another 3 days.  Udemy has a template for video editing.  It's quite a help. 

On the days I do not feel creative,  I simply research and find myself writing in an hour or so.... 🙂

Hope it helps. 

Ekta 🙂