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How to Plan an Online Course Curriculum

A course lives or dies on its structure more than its polish β€” here's a practical process for planning one that keeps students engaged to the end.

  1. Set a Learning Goal and Outcome

    Start by defining exactly what a student should be able to do after finishing the course β€” everything else follows from this.

  2. Break the Overall Flow Into Major Sections

    Map out the path from where students start to that goal as three to six major sections, forming the overall roadmap.

  3. Break Sections Into Chapters and Allocate Time

    Split each section into individual chapters, keeping each one to roughly 5 to 15 minutes to keep the learning load manageable.

  4. Build in Practice and Exercise Points

    Rather than only presenting theory, place a practical exercise or assignment at the end of each section so students actually apply what they learned.

  5. Get Outside Feedback on the Outline

    Show the finished outline to a colleague or a potential student and ask whether the order makes sense and whether anything important is missing.

Curriculum Structure Drives Completion Rate

Even genuinely good content loses students if the order feels disorganized β€” students who get confused about where they are or why a topic comes next are much more likely to drop off partway through. Designing backward from the end goal, and making sure each chapter sets up the one that follows, is the single biggest lever for keeping students engaged to the end.

Testing Structure Before You Film Everything

It's worth confirming the big-picture outline before you start recording, but the finer details β€” exact scripts, specific examples, small ordering tweaks β€” can keep evolving right up until you film. Many instructors record just the first section, watch how real students respond, and adjust the remaining chapters based on where people actually get confused or drop off, rather than locking every detail in advance.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many chapters should a course have?

There's no fixed number, but cramming too many chapters into one section tends to overwhelm students β€” around 5 to 10 chapters per section, broken up with practice exercises, is a commonly used range.

Do I need to finish the whole curriculum before I start filming?

Locking in the major sections ahead of time is a good idea, but detailed scripts and examples can still be refined right up until filming, and many instructors adjust later chapters based on how students respond to the earlier ones.