What is Cohort-Based Learning? How to Create a Cohort Online Course

Have you heard the term cohort-based learning lately?

This kind of approach to online learning is becoming more and more popular. Keep reading below to learn what cohort-based learning means and how you can create a cohort-based online course today.

What is Cohort-Based Learning?

Cohort-based learning is an online educational approach where a group of learners progress through a course together.

In this model, students start the course at the same time and follow a structured schedule, moving through the material together as a cohort.

This is different from the classic online courses and self-paced learning programs, where students can enroll at any time and progress at their own speed through pre-recorded lessons.

What are the Key Features of Cohort-Based Courses?

Let's see how cohort-based courses differ from traditional self-paced online courses, and what they have in common:

• Fixed Start and End Dates: Cohort-based courses have specific start and end dates, creating a sense of shared experience and community among the learners.

• Pre-Recorded Lessons: The curriculum is pre-planned and pre-recorded, as it happens in most online courses, to ensure that all students cover the same material at the same time.

• Group Interaction & Community Building: Cohort-based learning encourages collaboration and interaction among learners within the cohort. This is often facilitated through online communities, group projects, or live discussions. Cohorts offer the opportunity to build a strong sense of community among learners who share similar interests and goals, creating a network that can extend beyond the course.

• Support and Accountability: Cohort-based learning provides a support system for students through interactions with the creator and fellow learners. Students often receive timely feedback and encouragement from the creator, fostering a sense of accountability.

• Real-time Engagement: Cohort-based courses may or may not include live classes or interactive sessions, allowing students to engage with instructors and peers in real time.

• Time-Bound Progression: Cohort learners may have deadlines and expiration dates for lessons or assignments, which helps students' motivation and accountability.

Cohort-based learning has gained popularity in the online course space, as it offers a more structured and engaging learning experience compared to self-paced courses.

It also fosters a sense of belonging and community among the students, enhancing the overall learning journey for participants.

More articles about cohort-based learning:

• The Best Way to Turn an Evergreen Online Course into a Cohort-Based Course
• Build a Community in Your Online Course Running Challenges
• Why Running Online Challenges on Facebook is Hurting Your Business

How to Create a Cohort-Based Course

Heights Platform has a special feature called "Challenges" that makes it super easy to run cohort-based courses.

A Challenge is like an online course, but with a specific start and end date. The cool thing is how students access the lessons.

You can set up the dates when your Challenge will be available, and also decide when each lesson will be released. Unlike regular courses, the lessons in a Challenge will disappear for students after a certain time, which you can customize.

Everyone who signs up for your Challenge will get access to the course and new lessons at the same time as their fellow students.

Here is the best part: once a Challenge is completed, creators using Heights Platform can restart it with just one click. You get to choose the launch date for the new challenge, and the system automatically sets the dates for each lesson based on your previous settings!

Running Challenges for your audience has become really popular among creators, but until this feature was released in Heights Platform, there wasn't an efficient platform to make it easy.

But with Heights Platform's Challenge feature, you can easily do it over and over again!

More articles about online challenge courses:

• How to Launch an Online Challenge in 5 Easy Steps
• Introducing Challenges in Heights Platform: (How to Increase Engagement and Boost Online Course Sales)

In the past, setting up Challenges required a lot of manual work, like releasing content daily and managing emails to students. It was a hassle, and you didn't have access to useful analytics and messaging tools.

With Challenges in Heights, you can automate the whole process and run multiple Challenges smoothly.

Use Cases of Cohort-Based Learning Courses

Cohort-based courses and Challenges within Heights Platform can be used in many different main ways. Let's see a few popular use-case scenarios:

• Marketing Strategy & Lead Magnets: These kinds of courses can serve as an introductory mini-course to attract new customers to your brand and products. By offering a relatively short Challenge for free or at a low price, potential customers can experience your teaching style and become familiar with your offerings, potentially leading to sales of your premium-priced online courses.

• Complementary Add-On: Challenges can complement your main online course or membership site, providing additional value and engagement to students. These longer Challenges can be released weekly or monthly, offering new content and creating a sense of community among students who participate together.

• Flagship Course: Challenges can also serve as the main product of your program, offering students a clear goal and motivation to engage daily. This approach works well for non-linear learning topics, where students can join the Challenge at any time without missing crucial information.

Overall, Challenges and cohort-based learning courses offer flexibility and motivation to learners, making them an effective tool for various use cases within Heights Platform.