Course Lab: Lessons from Successful Online Course Creators

Special "business revenue leak checklist" offer, free at http://www.mrse.co/leak.Episode summary: How do you create an exciting and dynamic online course that provides a laser-focused and streamlined online learning experience for your students? Rebecca Cuevas is the expert who will help you set up your course so that students can actually learn from it. And even better, she’ll show you a method for designing your course that's fast, easy, and fun!      In this episode, our hosts Danny Iny and Abe Crystal will take a closer look at Rebecca's course “Streamline Your Course Creation,” which helps online course creators design transformative learning experiences. Rebecca is the recipient of multiple Federal scholarships for international study and brings a creative, multi-cultural perspective to her work. While pursuing her goal to light up the planet, one mind at a time, Rebecca perfected a method that makes course design simple, even for first-time course creators - and today she’s sharing all her top strategies with our listeners. In this episode we discuss:How tripping over digital whiteboards gave Rebecca the idea of taking her face-to-face training to the online world.Although she has diversified offerings, Rebecca’s wish for scalability led to the creation of a very guided practice-focused course --- an evergreen course. How digital flipbooks eliminate navigation challenges while keeping interactivity and engagement with the students.Why do minimizing downloads help students to use the note-taking method of their preferred choice and enhance the learning experience?Danny’s and Abe’s debrief after the interview“The difference between a course and some other kind of digital product is that in order for it to work, people have to actually learn from it.” – Rebecca CuevasRebecca CuevasGuest Bio: Rebecca Cuevas is the CEO and founder of Learn and Get Smarter where she teaches busy creative experts and entrepreneurs how to create online courses. She’s been an educator her whole career and holds a BA in English from Harvard University, as well as two Masters Degrees in Education.     For fifteen years, Rebecca designed and delivered award-winning education programs for public utilities in Southern California, impacting over 150,000 students with hands-on learning experiences relating to water and energy conservation. A recipient of multiple Federal scholarships for international study, she brings a creative, multi-cultural perspective to her work in educational consulting, instructional design, and curriculum development.     Her new course, Streamlined Course Creation, will help you outline YOUR course and plan all your lessons, in as little as a weekend, using learning design best practices.Resources or websites mentioned in this episode:Mirasee To learn more, check out Rebecca's webinar at https://www.learnandgetsmarter.com/results/Ruzuku Credits:Guest - Rebecca CuevasHosts - Danny Iny & Abe Crystal Producer - Cynthia Lamb Executive producer - Danny InyAssembled by - Michi LantzAudio Post Supervisor: Evan Miles, Christopher MartinAudio Post Production by Post Office SoundMusic soundscape: Chad Michael SnavelyIf you don't want to miss future episodes of Course  Lab, please subscribe to Apple podcasts or Spotify or wherever you're listening right now. And if you liked the show, please leave us a starred review. It's the best way to help us get these ideas to more people.If you have a question for Course Lab, put the show title in the subject line and send it to podcasts@mirasee.comMusic and SFX credits: Track Title: Bossa BBArtist Name(s): MarieWriter Name: Chelsea McGoughPublisher Name: BOSS SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONSTrack Title: Carousel LightsArtist Name(s): Chelsea McGoughWriter Name: Chelsea McGoughWriter Name: Matthew WigtonPublisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONPublisher Name: BOSS SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONSTrack Title: GraceArtist Name(s): ShimmerWriter Name: Matthew WigtonPublisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONTrack Title: Coo CoosArtist Name(s): Dresden, The FlamingoWriter Name: Matthew WigtonPublisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONEpisode transcript: How To Streamline Your Course For Optimized Learning (Rebecca Cuevas): [00:00:00] : Mirasee. See many people are promoting how great online courses are as selling a digital product. But the difference between a course and some other kind of digital products is that in order for it to work, people have to actually learn from it. Hello and welcome to your course lab. The show, the TCS course creators like you how to make better online courses. I made Crystal, the founder of residue and I'm here with my co host Danny, any the founder and Ceo of Mercy. In each episode we showcase of course and course creator who's doing something really interesting with their course. Our guest today is Rebecca quit us. Rebecca is the Ceo and founder of learn and get smart ink where she teaches busy creative experts and entrepreneurs to create online courses. Rebecca, Welcome to Corsica. Hey, hey Danny, it's wonderful to be here. Thank you so much for having me. Absolute. So we'd love to get started by having you get this kind of the big picture. So what is the 30,000 ft view of your work, your expertise and and how you came to this wild world of online courses? I came to this world of online courses from the world of offline courses And I've been an educator for my entire career. And around 2007 I started every classroom I went into, I was tripping over these digital whiteboards and I started thinking it would be great to take my effective face to face trainings and put them online. But when I tried that, I did what most people do as a first step, which is take something that works well in the offline space and digitize it and put it online. And I discovered that it just really didn't create the same level of engagement that I was expecting and that I want to provide. So I went back to school for a second Masters in instructional techn...

Special "business revenue leak checklist" offer, free at http://www.mrse.co/leak.Episode summary: Believe it or not, many highly skilled musicians suffer from performance anxiety. Or they can play well in practice but fall short of their potential when they play for others. This was the problem that Mark Morley-Fletcher set out to solve for himself and, in the process, developed a hugely popular, successful, and innovative course that any course creator can learn from as well.     In this episode, hosts Danny Iny and Abe Crystal interview Mark about his course “Unlock Your Performance.” Mark's course combines elements of evergreen and boot camp to create a seamless hybrid with 1,000 students and counting.In this episode we discuss:The background and the frustration of not being able to play as well in performance as in practice.The biggest challenge in making the course successful.The content of the course and its unique hybrid structure.Creating a forum and community that provides a safe place to share and perform. Danny’s and Abe’s debrief after the interview.“Because the biggest challenge, I think, for a lot of course creators, is people will often find ways not to do things. It's really easy to kind of get excited about going through the material and then not do the hard stuff of putting it into practice.” – Mark Morley-FletcherGuest bio:Mark Morley-Fletcher is a jazz guitarist and educator who specializes in training the frequently overlooked skills and mindsets that are a huge part of rapid improvement and outstanding performances. He is particularly interested in how musicians can benefit from techniques used by peak performers in sport and other fields to perform more consistently and enjoyably. He has helped over a thousand musicians at all levels and across all instruments reach new heights through his courses on Performance Psychology and Effective Practice.Resources or websites mentioned in this episode:Mirasee playinthezone.comCredits:Guest - Mark Morley-FletcherHosts - Danny Iny & Abe Crystal Producer - Cynthia Lamb Executive producer - Danny InyWriter - Michi Lantz and Cynthia Lamb Assembled by - Geoff GovertsenAudio Post Supervisor: Evan Miles, Christopher MartinAudio Post Production by Post Office SoundMusic soundscape: Chad Michael SnavelyIf you don't want to miss future episodes of Course  Lab, please subscribe to Apple podcasts or Spotify or wherever you're listening right now. And if you liked the show, please leave us a starred review. It's the best way to help us get these ideas to more people.If you have a question for Course Lab, put the show title in the subject line and send it to podcasts@mirasee.com.Music and SFX credits: Track Title: FanfareArtist Name(s): ReveilleWriter Name: Brendan St. GelaisPublisher Name: BOSS SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONSTrack Title: Bossa BBArtist Name(s): MarieWriter Name: Chelsea McGoughPublisher Name: BOSS SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONSTrack Title: Carousel LightsArtist Name(s): Chelsea McGoughWriter Name: Chelsea McGoughWriter Name: Matthew WigtonPublisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONPublisher Name: BOSS SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONSTrack Title: GraceArtist Name(s): ShimmerWriter Name: Matthew WigtonPublisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONEpisode transcription: Unlock Your Best Music Performance (ft. Mark Morley-Fletcher)[00:00:00] : Mirasee. see the biggest challenge, I think for a lot of course creators and certainly the one that I've had is people will often find ways not to do things. It's really easy to kind of get excited about going through the material and then not do the hard stuff of putting into practice. Hello and welcome to course lab, the show that teaches course creators like you how to make better online courses. I'm a crystal co founder of resume, a course platform and I'm here with my co host, Danny B, the founder and Ceo of Mercy. In each episode we showcase of course and course creator who's doing something really interesting with their course And our guest today is Mark Morally Fleischer. Mark is a jazz guitarist who spent performing for more than 30 years. He teaches the psychology of performance to musicians. Mark, welcome to Corsica. Thanks jake. Great to be here. So mark, can you give us the 30,000 ft view of yourself, your background in teaching and how you came to this world of online courses. And then tell us a little bit about the specific course that you've been developing for musicians and how that's been going. Sure I've been a musician for, as you say, for for a long time performing all sorts of different things, but very much on the side. I'm a scientist by training. I had an office job for a long time and love to get out and play gigs in the evening. And I would find that I got very frustrated by not being able to play as well actually in performance as I could in practice. And I just assumed that this was the way it was. And I stumbled my way through that for decades or more of kind of just beating my head against a brick wall and making things better. And I found myself after I quit the office job, wondering what to do, going on a tennis course of all things, which looked at using performance psychology. So sports psychology techniques to, to improve your tennis playing. And I could not believe the impact that it had in just a three day course on how much my actual playing improved. But more importantly, in many ways, how much I actually started enjoying playing tennis much more rather than getting frustrated. So I thought there's got to be something here that I can do in music. Why didn't I know about this before I went around to look for where I could get that training in music and I just couldn't find anything that fitted the bill. So that started me off research and yet trying things out, bring things over from tennis, drawing on my experience, getting something that worked. And it made such a big difference. I thought, well I've got to see if I can help some other people with this. Just started teaching something reasonably informally to see where it went. And again, the results were better than I expected to the point where I thought, well I've got to try and make something of this and that's how I got into the online world. It was not a desire to teach online, rather it was having something to teach and discovering that it was just much more practical to do it and I could help a lot more people online. I mean, it sounds like a challenging topic in some ways to get musicians to think and perform differently. What were some of the challenges you e...

Special "business revenue leak checklist" offer, free at http://www.mrse.co/leak.Episode summary: Is it really possible to create a hugely successful course in a highly saturated niche? Turns out, it IS possible, and Jill Cruz is living proof of it. As a weight loss coach and Board-Certified Nutrition Specialist, Jill is in one of the most saturated niches around, and yet she’s managed to create an extremely popular high-ticket course that helps people to improve their nutrition, lose weight, and boost their overall well-being. In this episode, Course Lab hosts Danny Iny and Abe Crystal take a closer look at her course “Work With Your Nature Weight Loss.” The six-month program/course teaches women how to lose weight in a sustainable and enjoyable way without feeling deprived - and keep it off for the long term. They also discuss Jill’s approach to creating a popular course that stands out from all the others in your niche, and share her efficient strategies for success.In this episode we discuss:Her background and her own unhealthy eating disorder. The success of the first pilot and the iterationsThe content of the course, how she structures it, and how she made it cost-efficient.  The combination of the diet app and Loom videos for feedback Danny’s and Abe’s debrief after the interview “I want to sell them into the course, but only if it's the right course for them. If it's the right program for them.” – Jill CruzGuest bio:Jill Cruz, MS, CNS helps women over 40 that hate dieting to lose weight and feel great without being deprived. Jill has a Master of Science degree in Human Nutrition and is a Board Certified Nutrition Specialist. Jill combines her strong science-based background with tons of practical nutrition, fitness, and lifestyle guidance, helping people strive to be the best versions of themselves. She is on a mission to guide women to achieve their wildest dreams for their health while loving the food they eat and the life they live. Check her out on https://wynweightloss.com/Resources or websites mentioned in this episode:Miraseewynweightloss.comCredits:Guest - Jill CruzHosts - Danny Iny & Abe Crystal Producer - Cynthia Lamb Executive producer - Danny InyWriter - Michi Lantz and Cynthia Lamb Assembled by - Geoff GovertsenAudio Post Supervisor: Evan Miles, Christopher MartinAudio Post Production by Post Office SoundMusic soundscape: Chad Michael SnavelyIf you don't want to miss future episodes of Course Lab, please subscribe to Apple podcasts or Spotify or wherever you're listening right now. And if you liked the show, please leave us a starred review. It's the best way to help us get these ideas to more people.If you have a question for Course Lab, put the show title in the subject line and send it to podcasts@mirasee.com.Music and SFX credits:Track Title: AccessArtist Name(s): OBOYWriter Name: Martin HamptonWriter Name: Matej DjajkovskiPublisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONTrack Title: Bossa BBArtist Name(s): MarieWriter Name: Chelsea McGoughPublisher Name: BOSS SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONSTrack Title: Carousel LightsArtist Name(s): Chelsea McGoughWriter Name: Chelsea McGoughWriter Name: Matthew WigtonPublisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONPublisher Name: BOSS SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONSTrack Title: GraceArtist Name(s): ShimmerWriter Name: Matthew WigtonPublisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONEpisode transcript: Natural Weight Loss to Achieve Sustainable Results (ft. Jill Cruz) [00:00:00] : Mirasee. See when you're kind of touching base a little bit every day, the client feels really, really held and there's a high level of accountability, but the time spent by the nutritionist is minimal. Yeah. Hello and welcome to course Lab. The show. The teachers, course creators like you how to make better online courses. I'm Danny any the founder and Ceo here at morrissey and I'm here with my co host, Abe Crystal, the co founder of Results. You in each episode of this show, we really showcase a course and course creator who is doing something really interesting with their course. Our guest today is Jill Cruz Jill is a board certified nutrition specialist. She coaches women to lose weight in a sustainable and enjoyable way without feeling deprived. Jill, Welcome to course, lap Hi Danny, Thank you so much for having me so Jill. You and I have known each other for a very long time, but for the benefit of everyone who hasn't had that pleasure, who are you? What do you do? How did you come to be doing it? Give us the whole story. Okay, so right now, I am a nutritionist, a board certified nutritionist and I work with women over 40 who are looking to lose weight, they're sick of yo yo dieting and they're looking for a sustainable, healthy, dare I say, even pleasurable way to continue on their weight loss journey. So, my background is I worked for about eight years as a functional medicine nutritionist in a very interesting practice where we had a lot of very complex cases. The thing is that I actually went to nutrition school to help what I really wanted to do was help people lose weight. And somehow I found myself working in a practice helping people who had Parkinson's and Alzheimer's and a lot of really complicated neurological conditions, it wasn't really what I wanted to do, but I was learning a lot. And the thing was that I myself had an issue with eating. I actually had a 15 year long nighttime eating addiction. So throughout those years that I was working with people with chronic illness, I felt like it was disingenuous for me to start to go out and try to help people lose weight when I myself had this nighttime eating habit. So, uh as the years went on and I learned all of these wonderful things, I figured out how to get rid of my own eating habit, the bad eating disorder, then I was finally able to kind of branch out away from this functional medicine practice and into my own practice. I guess the whole point was that I had to feel comfortable being able to help people with their nighttime or daytime eating habits. I had to feel comfortable with it myself first. And the course was really what broke the ground for me in that I was the whole course, It was called food boss actually, and it was all about how to build new habits and break those cravings and all of the stuff that I had to do for myself. And has the course been exactly the same since the very beginning, when you imagined it in 2018? Or has it evolved over the last several years? It has definitely evolved. The great thing was that I was successful with that first iteration, my pilot, which was an eight week course where I would meet weekly with the group and you know, we would meet as a group and they would have homework and there was no one on one interaction, it was all ...

Special "business revenue leak checklist" offer, free at http://www.mrse.co/leak.Episode summary: Dr. G is the go-to media expert on creating resilience in your community, your team, even your own family. And she’s bringing her expertise to Course Lab. Dr. G’s online course, “Change the Behavior in You” teaches the path of change, without dictating the particular behavior you must work on. That way, you learn the structure and strategies to make this change happen, plus how to make any other changes you'll ever want in your own behavior! This is powerful for the student, but even more so for listeners of Course Lab, who’ll find many tips and strategies for creating meaningful change for their own students.In this episode we discuss:You know yourself better than any physician. The neuroscience of change. The importance and intricacies of knowledge translation. What don't course creators know about their audience that their audience knows?  Resilience is the ability to navigate change and come through it.Why her course’s title doesn’t have the word “resilience” in it. Danny’s and Abe’s debrief after the interview“Because we all think that we're kind of a closed perfect circuit. And, obviously, we're not. We're leaking information all the time.” – Dr. GGuest bio:Popularly known as "Dr. G", Deborah Gilboa, MD is a practicing physician, resilience expert, on-camera personality, author, and parent. Considered a go-to media expert on creating resilience in your community, your team, even your own family, Dr. G travels the world speaking at conferences, businesses, and universities. She is a regular contributor on The Doctors, The TODAY Show, Good Morning America, Today Show, The Rachael Ray Show, and Pittsburgh Today Live. Dr. G is quoted regularly in online and print publications including Today.com, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Real Simple, and The Wall Street Journal. She is the author of "Teach Resilience" (and three other titles).Resources or websites mentioned in this episode:MiraseeAskDoctorG.comCredits:Guest - Dr. GHosts - Danny Iny & Abe Crystal Producer - Cynthia Lamb Executive producer - Danny InyWriter - Michi Lantz and Cynthia Lamb Assembled by - Geoff GovertsenAudio Post Supervisor: Evan Miles, Christopher MartinAudio Post Production by Post Office SoundMusic soundscape: Chad Michael SnavelyIf you don't want to miss future episodes of Course  Lab, please subscribe to Apple podcasts or Spotify or wherever you're listening right now. And if you liked the show, please leave us a starred review. It's the best way to help us get these ideas to more people.If you have a question for Course Lab, put the show title in the subject line and send it to podcasts@mirasee.comMusic and SFX credits: Track Title: AccessArtist Name(s): OBOYWriter Name: Martin HamptonWriter Name: Matej DjajkovskiPublisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONTrack Title: Bossa BBArtist Name(s): MarieWriter Name: Chelsea McGoughPublisher Name: BOSS SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONSTrack Title: Carousel LightsArtist Name(s): Chelsea McGoughWriter Name: Chelsea McGoughWriter Name: Matthew WigtonPublisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONPublisher Name: BOSS SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONSTrack Title: GraceArtist Name(s): ShimmerWriter Name: Matthew WigtonPublisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONEpisode transcript: Develop Resilience to Change ANY Behavior (ft. Dr. G):[00:00:01] Danny: Mirasee [00:00:04] Dr. G: this is what any course creator can do happen to the expertise of your audience and help them see how to leverage what they already know to get through the obstacle or over the speed bump to the next step. [00:00:17] Danny: Hello and welcome to course Lab, the show that teaches course creators like you how to make better online courses. I'm Danny Iny the founder of Mirasee an Education Company, and I'm here with my co-host, Abe Crystal, the co founder of Ruzuku. In each episode, we're going to showcase a course and course creator who is doing something really interesting with their course. Our guest today is Dr. G. Dr. G welcome to Course Lab. [00:00:45] Dr. G: Thank you so much. Danny and it is really, really wonderful to be here. So I'm really excited [00:00:50] Danny: To hear about first of all your story um how did you come to be doing what you're doing? And then I also want to hear about the leap from that to online courses specifically, but 30,000 ft, how did you come to be doing this? [00:01:04] Dr. G: I'm a family doctor. I'm an MD. The kind of doctor that you would go to if your back hurt or your child needed their well visit, that kind of a family doc. And what I discovered after a few years of being an attending physician, meaning I finished all my training and I was at a health centre serving underserved populations, I discovered that as much ego as I had wrapped up in my diagnostic skills and my ability to ask questions and listen to the answers and give people great suggestions for a course of care and prescriptions, et cetera. That would help them. None of that was the best predictor of my patient's well being turned out. I kept observing over and over and over again that I could do my best job. And what it really depended on the outcomes really depended on was that person's resilience, how they pictured their life, and how they utilize the resources around them and what they thought was possible. And all this stuff that the more I read about it, the more I realized we put in this bucket of resilience. So I have never stopped practicing medicine. I'm still at that health center that serves underserved folks in my city. But I decided I had to figure this out. Resilience is this thing that we often in our society have a real fixed mindset around. Some people are resilient and some people aren't and that's just how it is. But I thought there had to be more to it than that. So I have spent the last nine years reading, writing, researching, speaking, and now leading thoughts about resilience and how we grow it. [00:02:37] Danny: And so where did an online course emerged as an idea that made sense here? Because you know you've been reading, you've been writing, you've been teaching, yo...

Special "business revenue leak checklist" offer, free at http://www.mrse.co/leak.Episode summary: How do you create an online course about DNA and genealogy and make it interesting and understandable to people? First, you become an expert in the field and start your own DNA education company. You work with DNA tests that people have taken and use the results to help them better understand their family history. And when a pandemic hits, you pivot your knowledge of genetics into something that is accessible online.In this episode, our hosts Danny Iny and Abe Crystal will take a closer look at the course “Your DNA Guide”.  The course creator, Diahan Southard, is a microbiologist and the author of the book “Your DNA Guide”. She has a gift for making complex DNA concepts engaging and understandable. Diahan started volunteering in a college lab, and that project turned into the first genetic genealogy database. And that exploded into the industry of genetic genealogy we know today.   In this episode we discuss:How the little project she worked on birthed a billion-dollar industry. How the pandemic left Diahan sitting on 1000s of books but led her online The bite-sized course content has 10 to 12 minutes instructional videos, homework, and research. How the students use the interactive step-by-step workbook to help them apply their research.  Danny’s and Abe’s debrief after the interview “So the pilot really helped me refine what was necessary for them to learn at this stage. And the great thing is I've taken all the extra and I'm going to make a second course.” – Diahan SouthardGuest Bio:Diahan Southard is a leading voice for consumer DNA testing, one of the world's most fascinating, dynamic and socially-transformative new hobbies. Nearly 30 million people have taken a DNA test. The numbers keep rising and so do the uses of their data--and questions about that use. As Founder of Your DNA Guide Diahan teaches internationally, writes for popular magazines, consults with leading testing companies, is the author if Your DNA Guide – the Book, and producer of Your DNA Guide – the Academy, an online learning experience. Southard's company, Your DNA Guide (YourDNAGuide.com), provides genetic genealogy education products and services. You will walk away from an interaction with her enlightened and motivated as she has a passion for genetic genealogy, a genuine love for people, and a gift for making the technical understandable. Diahan’s involvement in genetic genealogy began nearly 20 years ago as a bench scientist for the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation, the world's first genetic genealogy database. Diahan often weighs in on the compelling--and sometimes competing--ethical, familial, health, and criminal justice implications of consumer DNA testing. She voices the conviction that learning ancestral ethnicity can unite people rather than divide them. She counsels those who learn family secrets to tread carefully but courageously. Diahan seeks to bridge the needs of those who want answers from DNA with those who want privacy. The stories she shares illuminate the human experience of navigating the histories hidden deep within the genomes of individuals, families and societies.Diahan SouthardResources or websites mentioned in this episode:Mirasee Yourdnaguide.comCredits:Guest - Diahan Southard Hosts - Danny Iny & Abe CrystalProducer - Cynthia LambExecutive producer - Danny InyWriter - Michi Lantz and Cynthia LambAssembled by - Geoff GovertsenAudio Post Supervisor: Evan Miles, Christopher MartinAudio Post Production by Post Office SoundMusic soundscape: Chad Michael SnavelyCall-to-action: If you don't want to miss future episodes of Course  Lab, please subscribe to Apple podcasts or Spotify or wherever you're listening right now. And if you liked the show, please leave us a starred review. It's the best way to help us get these ideas to more people.If you have a question for Course Lab, put the show title in the subject line and send it to podcasts@mirasee.comMusic and SFX credits: Track Title: AccessArtist Name(s): OBOYWriter Name: Martin HamptonWriter Name: Matej DjajkovskiPublisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONTrack Title: Bossa BBArtist Name(s): MarieWriter Name: Chelsea McGoughPublisher Name: BOSS SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONSTrack Title: Carousel LightsArtist Name(s): Chelsea McGoughWriter Name: Chelsea McGoughWriter Name: Matthew WigtonPublisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONPublisher Name: BOSS SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONSTrack Title: GraceArtist Name(s): ShimmerWriter Name: Matthew WigtonPublisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONTrack Title: Coo CoosArtist Name(s): Dresden, The FlamingoWriter Name: Matthew WigtonPublisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONEpisode transcript: Getting the Most Out of Your DNA Results (Diahan Southard):[00:00:00] Signature sound:  Mirasee. [00:00:06] Diahan Southard: And so when you think of genetic genealogy databases today, you might be familiar with 23-and-me or Ancestry DNA or MyHeritage. All of that started with this little college project that I was a part of that really exploded into the industry we know today. Yeah. Danny Iny: Hello and welcome to Course Lab. The show that teaches course creators like you how to make better online ...

Special "business revenue leak checklist" offer, free at http://www.mrse.co/leak.Episode summary: These days, video game writers are taking something old - storytelling - and marrying it to something new - technology. In this way, writers are redefining what it means to tell a story in the 21st century, just as screenwriters did in the 20th century. Now more than ever, great games deserve great stories.In this episode, hosts Danny Iny and Abe Crystal interview  Susan O’Connor, the creator of the multifaceted course “How to write for video games.”  Susan's been writing for many years and learned everything the hard way, which meant screwing up and mostly screwing up in public. Why should other writers have to go through this hard process, she asked herself? Why not go through a class? So, she created one that’s achieving “pinnacle results” for her students. In this episode we discuss:“The digital campfire” model; creating a space for writers to build a community - they LOVE it. How she constructed the content of the course and its multifaceted structure.How the TA (teacher assistant) strategy enabled Susan to scale. What she's charging for her course(s), and why she has class 1 and class 2.How Susan is able to get her students jobs in the industry.Danny’s and Abe’s debrief after the interview “I created a buddy system. I waited a couple of weeks until we'd had a chance to know each other. But I would partner people up so that they could have a go-to person to discuss that week's homework assignment. And then I changed up the buddies every week.” – Susan O’ConnorGuest Bio:Susan’s first job as a game writer was for “a slumber party game - for girls!” She’s gone on to work on over 25 projects, including award-winning titles in the BioShock, Far Cry and Tomb Raider franchises. Titles in her portfolio have sold over 30 million copies and generated over $500 million in sales. She is an adjunct professor at UT Austin, where she teaches a course on writing for games. A long time ago, she founded the Game Narrative Summit at GDC. Now, she partners with studios, publishers, and writers to help teams ship great games with great stories. She is dedicated to supporting creatives in the games industry so that they can do their best work.Susan O'ConnorResources or websites mentioned in this episode:Mirasee susanoconnorwriter.comCredits:Guest - Susan O’Connor Hosts - Danny Iny & Abe Crystal Producer - Cynthia Lamb Executive producer - Danny Iny Writer - Michi Lantz and Cynthia LambAssembled by - Geoff GovertsenAudio Post Supervisor: Evan Miles, Christopher MartinAudio Post Production by Post Office SoundMusic soundscape: Chad Michael SnavelyCall-to-action: If you don't want to miss future episodes of Course  Lab, please subscribe to Apple podcasts or Spotify or wherever you're listening right now. And if you liked the show, please leave us a starred review. It's the best way to help us get these ideas to more people.If you have a question for Course Lab, put the show title in the subject line and send it to podcasts@mirasee.com.Music and SFX credits: 1. Track Title: AccessArtist Name(s): OBOYWriter Name: Martin HamptonWriter Name: Matej DjajkovskiPublisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTION2. Track Title: Bossa BBArtist Name(s): MarieWriter Name: Chelsea McGoughPublisher Name: BOSS SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONS3. Track Title: Carousel LightsArtist Name(s): Chelsea McGoughWriter Name: Chelsea McGoughWriter Name: Matthew WigtonPublisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONPublisher Name: BOSS SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONS4. Track Title: GraceArtist Name(s): ShimmerWriter Name: Matthew WigtonPublisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONEpisode transcript: Writing for Video Games (ft. Susan O’Connor)[00:00:01] Danny Iny: Mirasee [00:00:05] Susan O'Connor: I had to learn everything the hard way, which means screwing up and mostly screwing up in public, but I learned and it was great, you know? And so I thought gosh, why should other writers have to go through this hard process? Why why not go through a class? Why can't I just make it easy for them? Okay.[00:00:25] Danny: Hello and welcome to Course Lab, the show that teaches course creators like you how to make better online courses. I'm Danny, me the founder of Mirasee an education company and I'm here with my co host Abe Crystal, the co founder of Ruzuku. In each episode we're going to showcase of course and horse creator who is doing something really interesting with their course. Our guest today is Susan O'Connor. Susan. Welcome to course Lab.[00:00:54] Susan: Thanks Danny. I'm thrilled to be here. Hi Abe.[00:00:58] Abe: Hello there.[00:00:59] Danny: So let's start at the beginning, Susan. For people who are not familiar with you and your work, who are you, what do you do? How did you come to the world of online courses and what is your course about who does it serve? Give us the give us the whole picture.[00:01:14] Susan: I am a writer and a teacher and I have a very unusual specialty. I actually for years and years now have been writing scripts and storylines for video games. Which is a lot like writing scripts and stories for movies. But instead of for movies it's for games.[00:01:32] Danny: Are there some games you've worked on that we might have heard of?[00:01:35]

Special "business revenue leak checklist" offer, free at http://www.mrse.co/leak.Credits: Hosts - Danny Iny and Abe CrystalProducer/writer - Cynthia LambExecutive producer - Danny InyAudio Post Supervisor: Evan Miles, Christopher MartinAudio Post Production by Post Office SoundMusic soundscape: Chad Michael SnavelyCall-to-action: If you don't want to miss future episodes of Course  Lab, please subscribe to Apple podcasts or Spotify or wherever you're listening right now. And if you liked the show, please leave us a starred review. It's the best way to help us get these ideas to more people.If you have a question for Course Lab, put the show title in the subject line and send it to podcasts@mirasee.comMusic and SFX credits: 1. Track Title: Bossa BBArtist Name(s): MarieWriter Name: Chelsea McGoughPublisher Name: BOSS SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONS2. Track Title: Carousel LightsArtist Name(s): Chelsea McGoughWriter Name: Chelsea McGoughWriter Name: Matthew WigtonPublisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONPublisher Name: BOSS SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONS3. Track Title: GraceArtist Name(s): ShimmerWriter Name: Matthew WigtonPublisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTION• Episode transcript: Trailer for Course Lab: Lessons from Successful Online Course Creators with Mirasee’s Danny Iny and Ruzuku’s Abe Crystal. Coming soon. ~~~~~