Quick Start Guide for ZONO Academy Instructors

Question 1: What type of course are you making?

Your first decision point will be whether you’ll appear on video. Not all instructors do. Even though most of ZONO Academy courses are video-based, some consist entirely of screencasts. You may choose to appear in your videos in order to create a connection with your audience or to demonstrate something in physical space. For subjects such as programming or using software, a screencast may be all you need. 

Question 2: What equipment will you need?

For all instructors, no matter what sort of course you’ll be creating, you will need a reliable microphone to capture good, clean audio. The built-in microphones in your computer or headphones are not sufficient to capture the quality of audio necessary for an effective course. Your microphone may be the most important investment you make. That said, most instructors spend less than $100 to get started recording their first course. You can always add accessories later when you get a feel for what you need. 

Question 3: Where will you record? 

Choosing a location to record is one of your most important choices for capturing clear audio. you need to pay attention to outside noise, such as traffic or construction, as well as indoor sounds such as air conditioning or pets. You might try recording in a few different locations, testing for distracting echoes or noise.

There are also simple ways you can reduce echo using rugs or blankets.

Question 4: How will you plan your course?

An outline helps you organize your ideas and sets the stage for a successful course. A course outline can be a text document, spreadsheet, or chart. To get started you can use the templates we’ve provided in Google Docs or Sheets. You might also use a mind-map, or any format that helps you to organize your ideas.

 Example:

Course Goals

The Students will be able to 

use more advanced features of Adobe Photoshop CS

work with image editing and graphic design features

use basic Photoshop skills and concepts to develop effective graphics for both web and print media.

Question 5: When will you work on it?

When creating your course, it’s important to plan ahead to be sure you can fulfill all the requirements and meet your deadlines. You can plan out your course creation using the journey map below. Every course is different, and you’ll probably have to adapt the timeline to your own needs. Start with the key dates from the journey map, then set additional deadlines for yourself that will support your strategy for completing each milestone.

The following resources will help you with Question 4:

• Google Calendar and other calendar apps are the most important tools to help you block out your time. Use the guide below to plan ahead and dedicate time to each step.
• Google Drive is great because it backs up all your work to the cloud. You can use Google Docs for starting to script your first lectures and you can use Google sheets to track your progress on each one.
• Trello can be great for your course outline. Each column can be a section and each card can be a lecture. You can also use it to track your progress and next steps
• Evernote is great for gathering all your course content in one place. Use their web clipper to help gather examples. Use the reminder feature to set deadlines for recording individual lectures.
• Asana is a project management app. Add tasks and deadlines and view them in the calendar tab. Update the status of each item to gamify your progress.
• Advanced! Scrivener is not a free tool and comes with a bit of a learning curve. It’s designed for writers and content creators and helps you organize your work in bite-sized chunks. It might be Scrivener worth your while if you plan to do a lot of scripting.