10
32 Comments

A course with no videos

I turned a book I wrote into a course and did not really add videos. I did, however, add interactive lessons. I personally cannot learn from videos so thought this would be useful but many people are asking for videos. Would love to hear your thoughts!

What do you think of a course without videos (and only text)?
  1. Yay
  2. Nay
Vote
  1. 3

    I'd do audio courses, I've been tempted to create one myself. I hate the faff around creating video and much of the time it doesn't add much value.

    There are places like avid.fm and avocaodaudio.com that cater for audio only experiences.

    1. 1

      Aw thank you so much Rosie for the lovely mention here!

    2. 1

      Nice, never thought of audio courses but yes, I am not a fan of video courses -- just passive consumption of content.

    3. 1

      You should definitely made audio course! I created a 4-part audio course to funnel folks to my mailing list. :)

  2. 3

    I guess this also depends on the topic you're covering. A video-only programming course can a little bit annoying. Especially if you want to copy-and-paste code.

    When it comes to programming I enjoy books which follow a tutorial-style. Basically building an application step-by-step. In that case I also don't care that much if it's a .pdf or a website.

    Generally speaking I like to "own" things I buy so a downloadable artifact is more enticing than a login which might disappear in the next couple of years.

    Other, more creative topics might be better covered via video. As @most pointed out you might want to have different packages. That way you can also test the waters with a text-only course and see if there's real demand for a video one without spending a whole lot of time producing such videos.

    1. 1

      Thank you so much, it makes complete sense. I should have shared the topic of the course to make it clear. The covers covers the ins and outs of Customer Data and the coursework is to create a data tracking plan for your product.

      Here it is: https://learn.dataled.academy/courses/customer-data-pro

      1. 1

        Interesting. Based on your audience I'd assume that text would be fine. At least I wouldn't ask for a video in that case.

        Another thing to consider is that videos are hard to update. Once it's done it's done and you usually have to redo it if the content or the interfaces change.

        With a textual format you can always fix things "on the fly".

  3. 3

    You could sell the basic course without videos, and have an upgraded version with guided video lessons included. Either way I would make the videos, especially if it's the norm and people are asking you for them.

    1. 1

      I guess people are asking for them because it's a norm! :)

  4. 2

    Hi Arpit,

    I think it really depends on your audience, not necessarily on the content itself.
    People studying certain domains are inclined to study in a particular way, so running a beta test with your audience would be ideal, even if you only have a couple now. I think there's always going to be a sub-segment of your audience that learns a different way, and that's when the multimedia way of teaching comes into play. I'd probably try to figure out what are the two biggest ways your target audience likes to learn and then offer those rather than going to video as a default state without testing. It may be text+audio, text+slides, audio+video and so on.

    On the off-note: Sometimes presenting your content in a different way becomes a selling point for the audiences that do not understand the "regular" way of teaching. (for example, selling a course that explains physics through analogies and storytelling rather than whiteboard hardcore number style)

    1. 1

      Hey Tbiorg, thank you so much for your thoughtful message, it makes total sense! I am indeed trying to make this a selling point -- I added the following to the FAQs:

      The format has been created in a fashion that enables rapid learning since time is of the essence and not everybody can learn from lectures and videos.

      "Skimming content in a video course is super hard, and when clicking around on the video timeline, you’re never sure if you missed anything new. A lot of people just read transcripts, but that’s not a nice learning experience."

      • Peep Laja, CXL
  5. 2

    I'm personally a fan of audio courses since they've changed my life and taught me to code and speak English (I'm building a platform for it right now!)

    But if you absolutely think your course needs video, maybe you can do some kind of run down of your ebook on video?

    Daniel Vassallo did this in his course: https://dvassallo.gumroad.com/#PBkrO

    What I would do is make a ppt with all the key points per section. Then I'd use what you wrote in the book to expound on those points, kind of like a script.

    You can just put a small video of yourself on the bottom right-hand side of the screen like Daniel did if you do want yourself on camera. Maybe it's a good compromise?

    1. 1

      Wow this is awesome. Can you also point me to an audio course? Didn't know that was a thing but it might suit my course as the main reason behind not creating videos is that there's not much to show on a screen -- the topics are all very conceptual.

      1. 1

        Video is a great medium but I find you can be so much more powerful with audio courses since you can be yourself and really go in-depth on a topic.

        It's also much easier to create compared to video since you have to film, edit, make a ppt, do a voiceover, etc.

        If it helps, this is one we have on our website! https://learner.avid.fm/course/-MG9H4R22oydgeYWct4K

        1. 1

          Thank you so much and I completely agree. It is a pain to build videos especially when you're not offering a walkthrough of an existing piece of software. Thanks for sharing!

          1. 1

            Avid seems like a great idea!

            1. 1

              No worries - happy to help!

  6. 2

    This is great! I have been roaming with these thoughts for way too long. I started making videos, just to see where they go, but same as you, I don't like learning from videos, I very much prefer written content. I am curious to see how your interactive lessons work out! It may be a good compromise also for my book and my workshops (currently on halt due to corona).

    Regarding audio, only some subjects allow you to build a course in that format. I think that things like what Planet Money did during the summer is a prime example. But if the course is about anything practical, then audio will fall short.

    My biggest problem with non-self-paced (i.e. written) courses is that they are very tough to follow. Either they move too fast and then you spend much more time trying to pause/unpause or go back to the useful content after watching it all, or they are too slow and you spend more time trying to jump ahead without losing something important. That is why I think egghead got it right with how they deliver, and that's the format I am experimenting with.

    1. 1

      Oh you're damn right, that is my main contention with video courses (I think you meant "i.e. video" above?

      My course has a free version with the interactve quizzes so feel free to take a look: https://learn.dataled.academy/courses/customer-data-pro

      1. 2

        I'll bookmark it for as soon as I have time!

        1. 1

          Sure! Thanks again!

  7. 2

    yay many marketplace are welcome leanpub ,educative are support and mostly like this

  8. 2

    I recently run a similar poll here and it looks like there's definitely interest in text-based courses.

    1. 1

      I think so too, thanks for your comment!

  9. 1

    I just launched a course which is primarily an eBook (well really a series of cool Canva custom designed pages on crack, lol) along with several small formatting/instructional videos.

    I’m of the belief that as long as your price and product are right, it doesn’t matter what formats you use in your “course.”

    Partially I think this is because low quality marketers have really given eBooks or or guides (which they use as free lead magnets) a bad name.

    About $1400 in presales with no negative feedback now that it was released so the concept seems to be working.

    1. 1

      Thanks for sharing Casey, this is a nice example!

  10. 1

    Only one of the courses I’ve produced has contained videos and I don’t think it’s been a huge issue.

    If you’re going the text route, the key is to ensure the quality of the written English in the course if really high and that you use an easy to read style.

    I also think it’s important to include plenty of images/infographics that help explain complex issues and break up the text.

    1. 1

      Thanks for your feedback Alex. Completely with you on the quality of writing and supporting graphics -- been laser focused on this!

  11. 1

    Thank you everybody for the wonderful feedback. Here's a summary of what I got from this post:

    • There is room for courses without videos. In fact, 70% of the 30 odd votes say "Yay" to courses without videos
    • I learnt about audio courses ( avid.fm and avocaodaudio.com), the idea of which sounds super interesting to me. Video production is extremely time-consuming and may or may not add value. Audio, on the other hand, is easier to produce.
    • Some people like to own things and therefore it is still worth exploring offering a text-only course as a downloadable e-book. The same could apply to audio courses but that could potentially lead to piracy (my opinion).

    Thank you once again to everybody who took the time to respond here, you folks are awesome!

  12. -1

    This comment has been voted down. Click to show.

  13. 2

    This comment was deleted 3 years ago.

    1. 1

      Oh I do show my face in an intro video but the learning material is all text + quizzes and coursework.

      1. 1

        This comment was deleted 3 years ago.

Trending on Indie Hackers
How I grew a side project to 100k Unique Visitors in 7 days with 0 audience 49 comments Competing with Product Hunt: a month later 33 comments Why do you hate marketing? 29 comments My Top 20 Free Tools That I Use Everyday as an Indie Hacker 16 comments $15k revenues in <4 months as a solopreneur 14 comments Use Your Product 13 comments