I ran a Cohort-based Course, and here's what I Learned
Announcements
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I’ve added a new section to the newsletter, Below the Fold: 5 things that have resonated with me each week.
This week’s topic is on cohort-based courses. We’ll dive into what they are, why you should participate in one, and the lessons I’ve learned from leading one myself.
What is a Cohort-Based Course (CBC?)
Similar to an online course that you may take on platforms such as Udemy or Skillshare, cohort-based courses have three defining characteristics:
Time-bound: There is a set start and end time for each course, lasting from a few weeks to a couple of months. A cohort of individuals starts and ends at the same time.
Community: One of the pain points with self-paced online learning platforms is the lack of interaction with others, contributing to a low completion rate (as low as 5%). Being able to start and finish at the same time as others allows for greater accountability and enables peer-to-peer learning.
Iteration: Instead of only doing pre-recorded videos with a set curriculum, course organizers are able to get live feedback after each session and make adjustments to upcoming topics. At the end of each cohort, organizers can reflect and redesign the curriculum for the next cohort.
Why should you Participate in a Cohort-based Course?
With the emergence of the passion economy and digital tools that creators can leverage, any individual can have access to learning opportunities.
Join for the social aspect of learning: debates in live sessions, discussions on forums, and helping others achieve mutual goals.
Give back: Popular cohort-based courses such as Tiago Forte’s Building a Second Brain invites previous participants as alumni mentors, who focus on helping participants in the upcoming cohort succeed and run their own mini-sessions.
My Course on Personal Branding
I ran a 4-week cohort-based course for 10 TOHacks team members on personal branding. We covered topics such as finding your niche, creating your creative piece, finding a platform, publishing, and goal-setting.
Learnings:
Keep the sessions interactive not only at the beginning and the end but throughout. Try to incorporate participant engagement every 5 minutes (breakout rooms, discussions, Q&A)
Have 1 on 1’s with participants. Participants are sometimes more comfortable sharing with just one person instead of in a group setting.
Ship and iterate. Don’t worry about perfection. Listen to the feedback and iterate for the next session.
Video Time!
Here’s a piece created by Maryam, a first-year Computer Science student at the University of Waterloo. She dives into her hackathon experience and why you should join one yourself:
Hackathons sound scary, but I promise you, it's not! In this video, I talk all about hackathons — 3 reasons to apply, how I got involved and hackathons to apply to! Hackathons have taught me a lot about myself, helped me expand my network, learn new technologies, meet new friends, get nice t-shirts/stickers and build a cool project!
Action Items
Reach out to someone participating in a cohort-based course and ask them if they will teach a few concepts to you. It is a win-win.
Interested in joining a future cohort? Let me know.
Share this piece with someone who wants to further their education.
Below the Fold
Quote - "The biggest pain points are also the biggest opportunities for building a system to replace yourself." - Nat Eliason
Book - “Steal Like an Artist” by Austin Kleon
Article - Interstitial journaling: combining notes, to-do and time tracking, by Anne-Laure Le Cunff, the Founder of Ness Labs
Tweet: How you should prepare your podcast interviewees:
Transformational Online Courses with Andrew Barry and Marie Poulin.
Thank you to Emily for feedback and suggestions.