Blog

Below is an archive of every blog post shared through this site since 2010. For posts by topic, check out articles on marketing, leadership, and building new products.

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Posts in Courses

In Online Ed, Content Is No Longer King—Cohorts Are

We’re in a post-content age. It used to be that original educational content was scarce: a decade ago, such content was a major selling point for universities and accelerators.

Today, however, educational content is cheap and abundant on YouTube, in newsletters, on blogs, and on social media. People view learning-related content on YouTube 500 million times every day; the free YouTube channel Crash Course, for instance, features instructors with PhDs in everything from physics to organic chemistry.

Courses, Course StrategyWes KaoJuly 15, 2021cohort-based courses

The Super Specific How: How to make your cohort-based course more rigorous

Since launching my startup a few months ago and putting a name on the concept of “cohort-based courses”, there’s been growing excitement in the online education community about this new, more engaging way of learning.

But what makes cohort-based courses (CBCs) so engaging compared to other forms of online education?

CoursesWes KaoMarch 7, 2021cohort-based courses

Learning first, community second: The juicy challenges of building course communities

Communities are a focal point of cohort-based courses (CBCs). You can't have a start and end date, and just expect a high completion rate. You need community to help students stay motivated and stick through learning hard things. So how is community building different for CBCs vs other types of organizations? What unique challenges do courses bring?

CoursesWes KaoDecember 17, 2020cohort-based courses, online courses, Community