The best teachers are knowledgeable, engaging, and personable. In an audio course, you won’t have facial expressions, hand gestures, videos, or slides to grab your students’ attention, so you’ll have to rely on your voice, expertise, experience, and personality.
Start with "Why?"
Open your course with a personal introduction. Your students want to know who they'll be spending time with. Why are you teaching this course? Why are you the right person to teach it? Inspire your students by clearly communicating your sense of purpose to earn trust and establish authority.
Tell a story
People won’t always remember stats and numbers (especially in an audio medium), but they will remember a story. Personal stories make your course more enjoyable, approachable, and relatable. You can always include data in your lesson notes.
Remember, your students could read a book or browse the internet to learn facts, but you provide them with real-life experience and know-how. You can identify with them and what it’s like to be in their shoes as they learn this new subject, and your experience is one of the most valuable things you can share as a teacher.
Give value
This is obvious, but as you teach skills and subjects through different lessons, be sure to sprinkle actionable tips, best practices, and real-life examples throughout. When someone pays for a course, they typically expect a return on their investment in the form of a new set of knowledge or skills that they can take with them.
Emphasize clarity
Students won't stay interested if they can't follow the thread of your course. Focus on clear, concise instruction. If your course is aimed at beginners, avoid jargon or acronyms that they probably won't understand.
To reinforce what you teach, it's usually helpful to recap key takeaways at the end of each lesson.
Use humor
You don’t have to tell jokes, but try to keep the tone of your course upbeat to keep students engaged. Use humor when and if it’s appropriate. This makes your class more enjoyable for listeners because it feels more like fun and less like work. And research shows that humor boosts retention of new material in students of all ages.
The best audio courses are...
Accurate and insightful
- Make sure you’re knowledgeable about your subject.
- Be sure you’ve done your research. Present a variety of information, including background information, stats, tools, tips, tricks, and resources.
- Don’t forget to explain the “why” behind new concepts.
Personal
- Be authentic and connect with your students.
- Speak with warmth and respect.
- Tell stories and reference personal experiences and examples from your own life and learning experiences.
- Inspire and motivate your students to practice their new skills.
Actionable
- Remember, you aren’t teaching in a vacuum. Give your students new insights within a wider, real-world context. How will they use this new knowledge?
- Teach strategies and frameworks as well as specific techniques and step-by-step directions. Give them the theory along with practical guidance, if possible.
- Consider including demonstrations and case studies along with lessons.
