How to create an online course for free

Jul 29 / Kim Pearce
Many online training platforms come with built-in course authoring features, and numerous popular software packages are available for this purpose. However, if you're working with a limited budget and don't have access to an online training platform, how can you create a professional-looking online course for free?

Creating an online course from scratch without these tools can seem a monumental task, but it is entirely possible to create a professional-looking online course for free, complete with quizzes and reporting features. In this article, we'll walk you through the steps to achieve this using free tools.

If you already have content ready for your slides, jump straight to Step 3 - Create your course.

A step-by-step guide to creation an online course for free

Step 1:  Gather Material and Create Your Course Outline

First, draft your course outline, which should include the modules or sections of the course and the topics each module will cover. This is a key step to ensure your course is relevant, suitable for your audience, and does not omit any important information.

To build your course outline, gather the content and material that should be included in the course. This may involve speaking to subject matter experts (SMEs) and gathering PDFs and other materials. Once you have gathered your course material, it is helpful to use AI tools to process the material and suggest a draft course outline.

Let's look at how to do this using ChatGPT.
 
  1. Start a new chat with ChatGPT.
  2. Upload your course material.
  3. Prompt: "Please generate a draft course outline using the uploaded material. Include any missing modules or sections."

Step 2:  Decide on Your Delivery Format

Most online learning is delivered using either a slideshow format, video, or a combination of both.

Slideshow

Many corporate courses targeted at employees or contractors use a slideshow format with a quiz at the end. If you decide to use this format, flesh out your course outline to add the specific material for each module or section. Again, ChatGPT can assist with generating the content for each slide.

1. Prompt: "Using the uploaded material, create content for a series of slides on each topic."
2. Review and edit the suggested content as necessary.

Video

Video learning is a popular option for courses targeted at general audiences or for microlearning courses. If you opt for video, begin working on a script for your course. Use ChatGPT to assist you by asking it to generate a video script for each module or section.

Step 3:  Create your course

Slideshow

PowerPoint is still an excellent choice for creating slideshow courses without using course authoring tools. If you don't have a Microsoft 365 license, you can use Google Slides.

  1. First, we want a professional looking design. To achieve this, start a new blank PowerPoint file and insert your logo onto the first slide.
2. PowerPoint will suggest possible slide designs on the right. Choose one.
3. Continue to add new slides with the title, subtitle and content layout required - you may need an initial overview slide with the topics to cover, followed by content slides containing title and body. For each layout, select a design from the suggestions that is consistent with your previous design choice.

4. Add your content to each slide to create your course.

Adding a quiz in PowerPoint

1. From PowerPoint, go to the "Insert" menu and click "Forms."

2. When the Forms panel opens on the right, choose "New Quiz." This will open a new browser window with MS Forms.

3. Create your quiz by adding questions, possible answers, and choosing the correct answers. You can use ChatGPT to help generate questions and possible answers.

4. When finished, return to PowerPoint and choose the option "Collect response offline." This will embed your quiz into the PowerPoint slide.
Video

Our favorite tool for video course creation is Pictory. It offers a free trial and generates professional videos based on your uploaded script.

  1. Create a Pictory account.
  2. Choose "Create video from script".
  3. Upload your script and wait for your video to be generated.
  4. Edit your video as necessary, including editing text, images, adding voiceovers, or captions.


Combination

If you want to combine your video with a quiz, or include short videos in your slides, you can combine both methods above.  Create a ppt, add a slide and choose insert video.

Another great option for combination courses is canva. Search on canva for "course" and you will find free course templates.   These templates are fully editable, allowing you to add your own text, and can be played as interactive videos once downloaded.

Step 4:  Deliver Your Course to Learners

If you don't have an LMS and need a free method to deliver your course, your best option is to host your PowerPoint file on a cloud storage platform. If your course is targeted at employees, your company might have a preferred platform such as SharePoint. Alternatively, you can use OneDrive, Google Drive/Slides, Dropbox, etc.

1. Upload your course and generate a link.
2. Email this link to your learners.
3. If you included a quiz, you will see the quiz results in Microsoft Forms, which can be exported to Excel for reporting.

Continuum: Course Experts

Hopefully, these tools will assist you in creating free online courses. If you need a little professional help, contact us at Continuum for fast and affordable course design and creation services.

For more information and pricing, visit our pricing page.
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