Last week I tweeted out a post on the two biggest trends I have seen in 2021. One was paid communities and the other one was cohort-based courses. Then I stumbled upon this insightful thread by @ryangum about cohort-based courses (CBC) and I thought I would share it with you guys for this week's ONE THING. 

The Single-Player Online Courses 

• The conventional online course is where the instructor loads up a series of pre-recorded videos and you can progress through them at your own pace. 
  
• This model works fine and all, however the main problem is the lack of accountability. Because the students can watch it whenever they want, they often procrastinate and lose interest after a few chapters.
• Another issue is that students aren't able to reap the benefits of a traditional classroom model where they can take part in group activities and form genuine relationships.

Cohort-Based Courses

• CBCs are time-based, which means that there's a specific start and end date to the course and a weekly schedule of multiple live sessions. This will be much easier for students to stay motivated and finish the course.
• CBCs also use a flipped-classroom model. Students learn the core ideas of the course by watching a pre-recorded video beforehand, and then proceed onto live sessions with the instructors whereby they will further solidify these ideas in the live sessions through Q&As, examples or activities.
• CBCs are also community-focused. Zoom has this feature called a "breakout room" where the host can break participants into groups. This allows for group activities to be held and when students go through an experience together, a more meaningful bond will be created. 

Examples of Cohort-Based Courses

• Building a Second Brain
• Part-Time YouTuber Academy
• altMBA
• Supercreative

Right now, Gagan Biyani, the co-founder of Udemy along with Wes Kao and Shreyans Bhansali are creating a new educational platform for cohort-based courses. They have already raised $4.3 million from some notable tech investors including Naval, Lijin and Sahil Lavingia. 

Have a skill you want to monetize? Why not create a CBC of your own?

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