In this talk, I will deliver a detailed case study on how WordPress can be used to deliver online courses and build highly engaged communities of students. Most online courses achieve student completion rates of around 2% - 10% according to this MOOCS research study (http://www.katyjordan.com/MOOCproject.html) We have achieved 65% completion rates of our online courses by building incredibly engaging courses and a world class learning environment built on WordPress. The best part of this talk is that the online courses and community we have built are all for WordPress developers and freelancers so this is truly a WordPress showcase piece. The online education market is worth over US$100BN and WordPress provides a great platform for all online educators to improve the quality of their courses and deliver better student outcomes. The core technology covered will include WordPress, BuddyPress, bbPress, BadgeOS and the LearnDash Learning Management System. I will also talk about the psychology and strategy of delivering an online course to maximise student engagement and completion rates.

1. Online Courses with
WordPress

2. WP Elevation &
RockStar Empires
@troydean

3. Democratisation of
Education

4. MEGHAN TELPNER

5. MARK BROWN

6. NIKKI ELLEDGE-BROWN

7. NEW YORK CITY

8. US$107Bn

9. US$38.3Bn

10. 1 : 1

11. 1 : Many

12. Premium Positioning

13. Who Can You Teach?

14. DIY Crowd

15. Your Peers

16. The Problem with
MOOCs

17. 88%
10%
2%

18. 35%
65%

19. Here’s How:

22. More Carrot, Less Stick

23. Most Online Courses
Talk AT You

26. We Invite You Into
A Conversation

30. And Introduce You To Your
Community

33. Most Courses
Overwhelm You With Content

35. We Hold Your Hand
Every Step of the Way

41. Most Online Courses
Teach Abstract Concepts

43. We Teach Using
Simple Frameworks

45. Most Courses Use Long
Lessons, Boring Slides and
Bullet Points!!!

47. 17:25

48. We Use Slides and Direct to
Camera for Dynamic Videos

53. Most Courses Have
Little or NO Structure

54. We Use Psychological Hooks
To Keep Students Engaged

55. Why This Is Important Now

56. Most Courses Are
Just Video

58. Learning Modes: Visual, Aural,
Reading & Writing and
Kinesthetic

59. We Use Video, Audio, Text,
Quizzes and Homework

62. We Use Dynamic Quizzes to
Keep Students Awake

65. Most Courses Deliver
Static Content Only

67. We Use Gamification to
Keep Students Motivated

71. Most Courses Email You
When New Content is
Released

72. We Send You Emails
Based on Your Actions

74. We Deliver In-App Messages
Based on Your Actions

76. We Reward You For
Taking Action

90. Foundr

92. The Technology

93. WordPress

94. LearnDash

96. BuddyPress

98. BadgeOS

100. Social Learner for
LearnDash

102. Infusionsoft

104. Stripe

106. Memberium

108. Intercom

110. Twilio

112. Vimeo Business

114. Amazon S3 and AWS

116. Slack

118. Grytics

120. Asana

122. Online Courses with
WordPress

123. Q&A

124. bit.ly/wcsyd16