The world is online, so is education! Knowledge is at one’s fingertips, quite literally! Thanks to the wide reach of the Internet! Whenever you ask someone their mode of online learning, the first thing you’ll hear them say is about a course they undertook. Cut to the last decade, you’ll hear the use of the word “workshop” as well! Largely there are two formats that are common in online knowledge consumption and distribution – course and workshop.
As a Creator, we feel, you should know the difference between the two and also what is the better format for you to opt for to impart your knowledge! But before that, let’s delve a little deeper into what each entails!
What can you learn online?
Anything and everything! Besides academic lessons, one can find plenty of courses and workshops on financial freedom, culinary arts, hobbies, handicrafts, digital marketing, culture, science, law, upskilling and so much more! Online teaching in recent years has become very important, anyone with a robust skill-set can monetise their content. Creators are sharing their knowledge with/within their community and generating a steady income.
Moreover, online education, especially in the pandemic-struck world has become very popular in schools, colleges, and other educational institutions. Online tuitions and coaching centres are becoming more and more popular. We, at Tagmango, have some of the top Creators who are offering a gamut of workshops and courses on our platform and educating people.
While to the uninitiated, courses and workshops might look one and the same; that’s not the case! There are fundamental differences between courses and workshops and we are listing them out for you. But before that we need to understand what are courses and what are workshops.
What are Courses?
In a very technical sense, a course is a unit or type of teaching that typically lasts one academic term. Adapt it to online courses, courses last for a longer duration as compared to workshops.
Expert instructors effectively impart knowledge to students at a specific level, whether beginners or advanced. The instructors anticipate a course proposal through various interactive and engagement methods.
Online courses include educational content created to be shared on the Internet. Being taught through an online course, students get involved with both theoretical and practical content. So, while developing an online course, it’s important to pay attention to the theoretical part without forgetting the practical aspect.
These courses are always emphasised for professional training in a specific area of knowledge. A qualified teacher or lecturer teaches the content of a course and delivers knowledge on the proposed topic to the enrolled students. It is done through video lectures, slide show presentations, podcasts, etc. There are several courses on Tagmango relating to diverse fields and platforms.
Purpose of a course
Online courses allow young students to get trained in a specific area of their interest and even a particular job position. The courses are designed for professional improvement and enhancement of complex theoretical knowledge. Although it focuses on theory, the practical aspect isn’t forgotten and is always combined with the conceptual part.
Duration of a course
As mentioned earlier, online courses last longer. Learners take weeks or months to cover their entire course content. Since the in-depth theoretical part is utilized in a course structure, it takes time to cover all the content thoroughly by developing activities and exercises. However, it also depends on the course topic.
Ways to create an attractive Course
The first step to developing an online course is identifying the course subject. Choosing a subject should be done very carefully as the Creators must deliver quality content to their students and that is only possible if you master that subject themselves.
The next step includes planning your course’s structure, like the number of classes, teaching materials, lesson plan, etc. Tagmango also enables Creators to launch their online courses with assistive support.
Another thing to keep in mind while designing a course is to add the element of fun, Make your classes fun, interactive and attractive. It can be done by including infographics, PowerPoint presentations, etc.
Deliver your content on platforms that works functionally, especially for the student. It ensures that users have a good experience.
Build your marketing strategies to make your course grab the eyeballs.
What are Workshops?
In a gist, these are custom-designed larger meetings with a well-laid out agenda and clearly defined objectives.
It helps create new and extra knowledge or insights with a knowledgeable peer group. It facilitates interactive sessions, which help in fostering knowledge creation and sharing.
Workshop experts share their extensive knowledge on a particular topic. You also get a chance to build a community and grow your network around a topic of similar interest, like identifying potential contributors for some future collaboration.
A workshop is an event that is nowadays widely used for training purposes. Therefore, it focuses its attention more on practical aspects than theory.
Purpose of conducting a workshop
Unlike courses, workshops pay attention to learning practical skills. For this reason, they are utilised widely for training, and discussions on particular topics, in a practical manner because of the shorter time duration. Thus, workshops don’t go deeper into the theoretical part. At least, not all. Some workshops are alsi designed to cover theories. But the general trend is more hands-on approach than reading theory after theory.
Duration of a workshop
Due to its dynamic and practical nature, workshops aren’t that long. Usually, it lasts for a few hours or a day or a couple of days. These are crisper in terms of information dissemination as compared to courses, so these are shorter in duration.
Ways to create an enticing workshop
The first step, just like course creation, is choosing the subject. However, the subject should be more practical in the case of a workshop. It facilitates better interaction between the workshop creator and the audience.
Workshops are always conducted by a subject expert on the proposed topic.Be it Financial Concepts, Baking, Music Production, Coding, Social Media Growth, and many more topics, these are conducted by a known expert in that certain field.
Creators should be well-prepared with all the supporting materials to be applied during the workshop.
Next, the workshop must have a goal. For this, the workshop should be target intended.
Promote your workshop well. Use all the effective channels and resources available. Promote it on social media. You can also check out our extensive article on how to promote your next workshop on YouTube.
TagMango regularly hosts workshops by remarkable creators such as Subhadip Nandy, Priya Malik, Yashraj Mukhate, Kunal Kamra, Roshan Abbas, Dr Radhakrishnan Pillai, The Chartistt, Dr Siddhar Warrier, and so many more.
Choosing between a course and a workshop
Having understood the content structure, format, and purpose, a content creator must choose the medium of delivering knowledge according to their expertise and interests.
Based on your course content, you must make a conscious choice whether to choose an in-depth course or a snackable workshop. If you teach coding, trading, or any other skill that requires an in-depth theoretical and technical basis – courses are for you. However, workshops could be a great way to teach people certain niche skills at intermediate and advanced levels. Moreover, skills such as cooking require hands-on guidance and hence are justified when taught in workshops.
Select a topic that you love to share your knowledge on to deliver high-quality content.
Now that you know the differences between a workshop and a course, you can easily pick the best format to enhance and share your knowledge with your target audience. However, you must remember that the profile of the potential audience you want to reach is considered while choosing your knowledge-sharing medium through a workshop or an online course.
We at, TagMango, provide Creators with a platform to conduct live workshops, pre-recorded courses, live courses, and much more. So, whatever format you choose Creators, we are helping you every step of the way to monetise your skills and widen your reach.
With inputs from Rachna Srivastava
