If you’re reading this, I assume that you’re either a student taking an online course, or a teacher who plans to teach an online course in the future.
Odds are high that you’re already familiar with the value of writing in terms of your studies. Perhaps you’ve even heard of the spiral model of writing where you begin with a simple idea and build on it with each revision. The more you write, the more you’ll improve. Fewer spelling errors, tighter syntax, and higher quality content lead to a better grade. It’s simple.
But maybe you’ve also encountered challenges with writing in the past. Whether you’ve experienced writer’s block, or encountered another obstacle that has prevented you from reaching your full potential as a writer, this article is for you. We’re going to discuss reasons why writing is important to an online course, and how you can use that knowledge to improve your teaching and your students’ learning.
1. Better Learning
The first factor that makes writing important to an online course is practicality. We live in a digital world where information is readily available through a variety of means, including videos, websites, and of course, the internet itself. In the not-so-distant past, a good writing coach might have charged you hundreds or even thousands of dollars for an editing session, but the cost of a competent writer’s assistant today is virtually nothing.
Even if you have the best teacher in the world, your knowledge in this subject will not transfer directly to your students and their knowledge will not transfer directly to you. For this reason, you’ll want to make sure that your students are able to write well, and let’s face facts: the best way to learn something is by doing it. Even if you have the perfect blueprint in your head, you’ll never be able to bring it to life without actually putting the knowledge into practice through some sort of written medium.
2. Better Teaching
It’s all well and good to have the best learning experience possible, but you also want your students to be able to apply what they learn. For this reason, you’ll want to make sure that your students can write well, but you also want to be sure that you’re helping them become better writers. Which leads us to our next point.
3. Better Reviews
We live in a world full of varying opinions and one of the best ways to gauge the quality of a product or service is by reviewing it. If you’re a teacher who plans to offer an online course, you’ll no doubt want to make sure that you review the material thoroughly before sending it out and you’ll want to write several reviews in the process. What’s more is that you’ll want to engage with your readers, responding to their comments and questions, rather than ignoring or dodging them like a mosquito on an insect repellant.
If you’re a student taking an online course, you’ll want to be sure that you write reviews for the course. If your instructor is a professional in their field, they’ll no doubt be keen to get feedback on their teaching so that they can improve and evolve as instructors do. You’ll also want to write reviews for any software or equipment that you use in the course. It’s all about the feedback and the ability to improve.
4. Better Blogging
Blogs are a terrific way to get information out to a wider audience, whether you have 1000 followers or 100000 followers. But if you’re a teacher who plans to teach an online course, you’ll want to take this medium seriously and set up a blog for the course. Even better if you can get your students to contribute to the blog and engage with other readers through their writing. The more you write, the more you’ll improve your skills and the more you’ll be able to contribute to the blog.
Even if you’re not a teacher, you might find that you have a subject you’re keen to talk about that you feel would be of interest to the general public. Perhaps you have an interesting story that you want to share or a new discovery that you want to talk about. In these cases, a blog can be a fantastic way to get your story out there and let people read what you have to say. If you can get others to engage with you through your blog, you’ll be able to improve your social media presence and gain a greater number of fans.
5. Better Hosting
Depending on how talented your students are, you might want to consider investing in better online hosting so that you can put your best foot forward. While GoDaddy is free, it doesn’t offer the best performance as a web host and if you’re taking your course online, you’ll want to look for a web host that offers both affordability and performance.
6. Better SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) isn’t just about getting your content to appear in the right place when potential customers type in keywords into the search bar. It’s about making sure that when someone clicks on your content, they discover exactly what they’re looking for. Naturally, you’ll want to do this through relevant, high quality content that’s well-written and accessible.
For example, say you’re a dentist in Nebraska and you want to promote your practice in San Francisco. Your strategy might involve creating content that’s relevant to dental hygiene in Nebraska, but you also want to ensure that when a potential patient in San Francisco searches for dentists, your practice pops up at the top of the results.
7. Branding
Branding is all about creating a unique identity for your business or website. To achieve this, you might want to consider hiring a professional copywriter who can take your ideas and create a brand identity that will fit seamlessly across all online and offline platforms. What’s more is that you’ll want to get other businesses to contribute their talents so that your brand will become more robust.
For example, let’s say you’re the owner of a gym in Michigan and you want to create a brand identity. One option is to find a local copywriter who can create a unique identity for your gym that will stand out among other gyms in the area. Plus, you’ll have the advantage of being able to track the gym’s growth over time through the written word.
8. Easier Mapping
Imagine that you’re a teacher in a foreign country and you want to map the locations of your subjects to make it easier for your students to find the locations once they’ve registered for the course. In order to do this, you need to assign locations to the different subjects and write down the contact details for the teacher who is responsible for that subject. As a teacher, you might feel that this is an important part of your job and you’ll want to get it done as soon as possible. If you’re a student taking the course online, this might be a tedious process that can be avoided if you have a good Internet connection.
9. Identifying Common Problems
As a teacher, you’ll no doubt have encountered a variety of problems while teaching the same course over and over again. Perhaps the most frustrating problem is having to teach the same basic material over and over again because no matter how much you try, you’re always running into the same issues with your students. While you might not always get the most out of your students, you’ll likely get familiar with their common problems and be able to address them more effectively in the future.
If you’re a student taking an online course, you’ll want to be sure that you identify these problems while you’re in the process of studying so that you don’t waste any time when you’re assigned to answer questions in class. Maybe you’ve encountered problems with your Internet connection or finding the course materials, or maybe you’ve even had trouble understanding the course material because it’s been presented in a foreign language. Whatever the case may be, by writing down these issues, you’ll be able to improve your studying and help your teachers become more effective instructors.
10. Standardized Testing
Standards are important in all aspects of our lives, including education. The standardization of testing allows experts to assess your current knowledge and determine which area of learning you should focus on next. Whether you’re a student taking an online course or a teacher who plans to teach it, standards will help you identify your strengths and weaknesses and allow you to become a better, more effective instructor.