Last post, I shared with you some of the pleasures of having your own online academy. There really is no better way to make a buck while doing something you care about.
Academies are not just for institutions
Usually, we think of a big institution creating an academy. However, even an individual teacher can use WizIQ to organize learning materials and make work easily available to students. Entrepreneurs who have information about a product can create an academy to make instructional tutorials accessible to customers. Authors or writers can set up an academy to publicize their ideas or create an online community.
Set up that academy
Today, I am going to share with you some of the basics of setting up such an academy. The system on WizIQ is so intuitive, you do not need instructions. The program walks you through everything that you need to know. I will show you how easy it is.
1. Create your academy
Get started on the administrator’s page. After you have purchased your plan, you can find it at Wiziq.com/admin.
On this page, get started by filling your organization’s profile (1), customizing your academy (2) and adding teachers (3).
When you go to “Customize your Academy” you are asked to upload your logo and answer a few questions.
In just a few clicks, voilah! You have a fancy schmancy page! This will be the page that your learners will go to when they want to access course material. Everything that they need, and that you create for them, will be here. When you add teachers, other people in your organization can access the system as well.
2. Add some courses:
Now that you have an Academy, you might want to share some courses. Chances are, you have been teaching for a while and you have a lot of materials ready to go. With WizIQ, you can create a number of different kinds of courses.
Paid Courses are available on the WizIQ marketplace and Private Courses are available only to particular learners who you are associated with outside of WizIQ. With private courses, you manage the finances, or perhaps you offer the course for free to market something else.
Once you choose either a private or a public course, you are able to select live courses or self-paced courses. Live courses have regular online sessions which are supplemented with assigments between classes. Live courses are great, because you can regularly interact with your learners. You can see them, talk to them and help them process ideas. Self-paced courses offer sequential learning activities and assignments for students. They can complete the course work at their own pace. Once you have created a self-paced course, it is always available. You can continue to share or sell it. They are a way to make a passive income or share information that you teach often.
I am setting up a Private Live Course with a weekly schedule.
One of the courses I am teaching this year is called “Stardust.” It is about the history of the universe. It is going to explore The Big Bang and how the bang created the matter that makes up everything. I am pretty excited about the course. I uploaded a couple of images and answered a few questions to create this page:
3. Add content to the courses
All of my courses are 5 weeks long. It is really easy to organize them on WizIQ. For the Course Schedule, I put the topic that is going to be covered each week.
For each week, you can add content:
Within each week, I add readings, video tests or assignments that I want the kids to do.
Students can read files that you share, watch videos, engage with other embedded content, watch a recorded class or do a test.
Each of these options have step by step instructions. For example, to create a test, you simply select the “test” option, then you give it a title, description and instructions. Then you add questions. When your students comeplete the test, it is easy and quick to correct them.
Each course that you create is available on your academy’s home page. You might want to get a few of them up there, even if they are not entirely ready yet, to create a sense of abundance. You can start enrolling students now for a course that will start in a few months.
WizIQ is ready if you need help
Making an academy where your learners can easily access all of their learning materials has never been easier. Nonetheless, you might need some help:
–Finding students. If you are not yet a teacher but would like to be, WizIQ can help you find students.
–Working through the technology. The WizIQ support staff is available 24 hours each day to help you with any technological problems that you have.
There are a lot of ways to win.
