According to India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF),
“India has become the second-largest market for E-learning after the US. The sector is expected to reach US$ 1.96 billion by 2021 with around 9.5 million users. In India, the online education market is forecast to reach US$ 8.6 billion by 2026.”
The consistent growth of the online education sector in India creates opportunities for Edupreneurs and professional educators to generate recurring revenue by starting online teaching businesses. The convergence of social, mobile, analytics, and cloud (SMAC) technologies enables you to start an online teaching business in India without investing in extra time, effort, and resources.
You can use the right cloud-based learning management system (LMS) to move your teaching to a virtual and digitized environment. The LMS will make it easier for you to design, lunch, update, and manage multiple courses and training programs. Also, you can leverage the features provided by the LMS systems to attract more students by boosting learning experience and learner engagement.
But you cannot run and grow an online teaching business in India without implementing an elaborate strategy. The strategy will help you to choose the right eLearning model, launch the right training programs, and attract more students. You still need to consider and implement some simple ideas to curtail the time and resources required to set up an online teaching business successfully.
9 Ideas to Implement When You Decide to Start an Online Teaching Business in India
Opt for Blended eLearning
You can easily overcome the shortcomings of instructor-led training and self-paced learning by implementing blended learning. The blended learning model will enable students to acquire knowledge and ask questions by interacting with an instructor in video-based classrooms. At the same time, learners will also have the option to acquire knowledge at their own pace and schedule by accessing video lectures and digital learning materials on demand. You can easily implement blended learning using an LMS that supports both self-learning and instructor-led learning.
Facilitate Multi-Device Content Consumption
According to Entrepreneur.com,
“Previously deemed as elements that create distraction amongst students, these pocket-sized devices are now emerging as the ‘Mecca of learning’. While e-learning has existed for a while now, and students have been turning to learn via desktops and computers, it is mobile phones that are sparking a true revolution.”
Your online teaching business can enhance the learning experience and learner engagement only by allowing students to access content using a variety of devices – laptop, desktop, smartphone, and tablet. You must choose an LMS or online teaching platform that supports a multi-device approach while focusing extensively on optimizing the mobile learning experience.
Design Microlearning Courses
The statistics posted on several websites depict the effectiveness of microlearning in boosting learning experience, knowledge retention, and learner engagement. While designing online courses or training programs, you must focus on implementing microlearning. Unlike conventional educational approaches, microlearning requires you to teach students by delivering small learning units and short bursts of content. You can easily create the right microlearning content by focusing on the must-learn content, using real-world examples, and using the appropriate digital content.
Integrate a Variety of Digital Content
In addition to implementing microlearning, you must allow a learner to acquire knowledge by accessing a wide variety of digital content – ebooks, videos, audio, images, infographics, and quizzes. You must leverage the content authoring tools provided by an LMS or online teaching platform to create microlearning courses by integrating content in varying digital formats. The videos and infographics make it easier for you to enable students to acquire, retain, and transfer knowledge without putting in extra time and effort.
Leverage Ready-to-Use Digital Libraries
Most students these days gather information from diverse sources to understand a concept or topic elaborately. You can make it easier for students to access a wide range of content by leveraging ready-to-use cloud-based digital libraries. Most of these digital libraries can be integrated with an LMS seamlessly. But the students can leverage the digital library fully only when they have the access to a variety of digital content. At the same time, you need to check if the library consists of content from leading and reputed publishers in India.
Boost Performance of Training Programs
You cannot grow the online teaching business consistently without improving the performance of individual courses. You can easily measure the effectiveness and performance of a training program using important metrics like course completion rate, learner drop-off rate, and time to complete the course. Most learning management systems (LMSs) these days come with built-in learning analytics. You can leverage the analytics to measure the performance of individual training programs by analyzing and understanding real-time data about learners.
Keep Online Training Programs Affordable
According to The New Indian Express,
“43.99 percent of surveyed children have access to smartphones and another 43.99 percent of students have access to basic phones while 12.02 percent do not have access to either smartphones or basic phones.”
Hence, you can teach more students only by keeping your online courses or training programs affordable.
It is always advisable to set the price of online training programs according to the prices charged by your competitors for similar classes. But you can attract more students in India only by keeping the online courses affordable. You must explore ways to reduce the prices of courses by leveraging cloud-based LMSs to curtail both upfront infrastructural costs and ongoing operational expenses.
Promote Your Online Teaching Business Organically
Like other online businesses, your online teaching business must be promoted aggressively to attract more learners and generate more revenue. You can accomplish long-lasting results by implementing organic digital marketing strategies like search engine optimization (SEO) and content marketing. In addition to curtailing digital marketing costs, these strategies will help you showcase your skills and highlight your achievements. You can promote the online teaching business organically by creating articles, blog posts, guest posts, case studies, and social media posts.
The eLearning solutions like learning management systems (LMSs) and online classroom platforms help you to start an online teaching business in India putting in extra time and resources. But you must remember that the trends in eLearning and online teaching change from time to time. You cannot run and grow the online teaching business without adopting the hottest online education trends like microlearning, gamification, social learning, mobile learning, and learning personalization.