I have been thinking about developing an online course. First, allow me to describe my background.
I have a teaching/training background. I was the evening coordinator and head TA for the Algebra 101 courses in the math department in college. I taught junior high students for two years as a Teach for America 1999 Corps Member. I was a training specialist for two years in a health insurance claims department. I think this background gives me at least a leg up for designing my own online course.
My only experience designing and delivering an online course is a SQL course. I am self-taught with SQL. I learned enough of the basic syntax for my query needs, and I learned the data schema for the back-end tables of the software I use. The problem is that there is no training course to teach what I know. There are plenty of SQL courses that will teach you way more than you need in my role. There is also a training course offered by the software vendor that provides information for the data schema, but that course assumes that you already know SQL. The ideal course would provide the specific SQL syntax and commands that someone in my role would use often, and introduce the data schema and provide tools so that people can figure out how to join tables and query for the information they need. This course did not exist, so I created my own.
I ran a beta version of the course for some colleagues on my own time. I tightened up the course and convinced my manager to let me run it for several of my co-workers. He agreed, and the company even compensated me with a separate bonus just for creating and delivering this course. The course went well. I still work with some of the people who went through the course, and they tell me that they use SQL every day and are thankful that they were able to participate.
The class was nothing fancy. I delivered the lessons live over a join.me meeting while displaying my screen and narrating and interacting with participants. I also developed the Power Point presentations, job aids, practice exercises, and additional SQL script examples.
I think an online course is a good avenue to explore. I need to start brainstorming course topics and also review the software and tools available for course creation/delivery. On the second point, I just found a link to a guy who is offering to show how he builds a course from scratch in a sprint in March and April all for free. The universe is tapping me on the shoulder. I recognized this guy's work because he built the Freedom Machine course that I took from Jon Morrow in 2017. If you are curious about it, you can read more and sign up here.
I have a teaching/training background. I was the evening coordinator and head TA for the Algebra 101 courses in the math department in college. I taught junior high students for two years as a Teach for America 1999 Corps Member. I was a training specialist for two years in a health insurance claims department. I think this background gives me at least a leg up for designing my own online course.
My only experience designing and delivering an online course is a SQL course. I am self-taught with SQL. I learned enough of the basic syntax for my query needs, and I learned the data schema for the back-end tables of the software I use. The problem is that there is no training course to teach what I know. There are plenty of SQL courses that will teach you way more than you need in my role. There is also a training course offered by the software vendor that provides information for the data schema, but that course assumes that you already know SQL. The ideal course would provide the specific SQL syntax and commands that someone in my role would use often, and introduce the data schema and provide tools so that people can figure out how to join tables and query for the information they need. This course did not exist, so I created my own.
I ran a beta version of the course for some colleagues on my own time. I tightened up the course and convinced my manager to let me run it for several of my co-workers. He agreed, and the company even compensated me with a separate bonus just for creating and delivering this course. The course went well. I still work with some of the people who went through the course, and they tell me that they use SQL every day and are thankful that they were able to participate.
The class was nothing fancy. I delivered the lessons live over a join.me meeting while displaying my screen and narrating and interacting with participants. I also developed the Power Point presentations, job aids, practice exercises, and additional SQL script examples.
I think an online course is a good avenue to explore. I need to start brainstorming course topics and also review the software and tools available for course creation/delivery. On the second point, I just found a link to a guy who is offering to show how he builds a course from scratch in a sprint in March and April all for free. The universe is tapping me on the shoulder. I recognized this guy's work because he built the Freedom Machine course that I took from Jon Morrow in 2017. If you are curious about it, you can read more and sign up here.
If you still have the materials of the SQL course, you could release it an online course.
Most SQL courses will be like this. For example, I don't just want a SQL course I want a SQL course on how to use with Laravel.
Or someone might want it for SQL and Node JS.
I know where this is headed but eventually the system that you connect SQL with will almost likely land you in developer land.
The only way around that would be to teach a SQL course for people who want to just stick with the database itself... which I think would be useful in itself.
Best thing would just get started with making courses on Youtube and see if there's any traction. And then eventually you can sell paid courses if there is.
Your SQL course linking with the proprietary system should have high transfer rate with an open source db like mysql or postgres