How to Make and Sell Interactive Online Classes + Free Ebook 2022

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Online learning has been on the rise for over a decade. However, thanks to case studies regarding the positive impacts on students’ learning experience, its popularity has accelerated exponentially in the last few years. One of the top growing income opportunities online is to make and sell interactive classes online.

You don’t even have to deliver the classes yourself! Instead, you can make interactive online classes and sell subscriptions to them in order to create residual income for yourself over time.

👉 If you are seeking only to present online interactive classes, click here to be redirected to our teacher portal.

Topics can range from teaching foreign language learning and math to music lessons and everything in between. Even the type of student is flexible for virtual lessons, ranging from elementary and higher school children to digital adult learners.

This blog post covers a complete step-by-step process on how to create and sell interactive online classes easily.

Why Make and Sell Interactive Online Classes with TTR

No one offers a platform for interactive online classes like we do. Whether you use a flipped classroom or a more traditional learning approach, The Tutor Resource (TTR) can handle it.

We don’t require you to present your lessons in a recorded format like traditional online course platforms. After all, that would take away from the interactive component you’re seeking to offer.

In addition, not having to record yourself presenting all your material means that’s less work for you to do before you’re able to get your interactive online classes available for sale.

We also don’t require you to present your lessons to users in a downloadable format that causes you to lose the rights to your work. We’ve seen teachers buy online lessons, edit them to include their own logos, and resell them as their own.

That scenario is impossible on TTR because everything is simply links embedded on our platform with the originals staying in your online file system for your security.

By hosting your products on our site in a subscription-based format, you never have to worry about users repurposing your creations as their own.

In addition, your subscribers will have real-time access to any edits or updates you make to your content. There is no need for them to take additional action if you add more lessons or units.

Lastly, our platform is designed to work with any video chat platform. From Voov to Classin to Zoom, you or your subscribers can choose the method that best suits their needs.

Must-Have Items to Create Interactive Online Classes

Once you’ve created your interactive online classes, there are a few more things you’ll need to make or have in order to publish it for sale. Each of the items listed below will assist you in the content sales process.

Pro Tip: Please take time to thoughtfully create each one before starting the process to launch your interactive online classes.

1. Lesson Image – You can make these easily in Canva. We recommend Canva Pro because it has some excellent features for content creators. The Lesson Image should readily show what the individual lesson will be about.
   
2. Lesson Description – This should include a list of your lesson topics, specifically the vocabulary, grammar, and other content that your lesson includes.
   
3. Course Description – This should include an overall aim for the course, including student outcomes and difficulty level.
   
4. Course Image – Make this one in Canva as well. If there are multiple lessons in the course, this image will show a composite of what all the lessons are about. If you only have one lesson in your course, then #1 and #4 may be the same.
   
5. Lesson Summary – Describe each individual lesson in 155 characters or less. This will be used to help make your lessons searchable on Google.
   
6. Cost Breakdown – Itemize how much you plan to charge for your lesson or course on a daily, weekly, and/or monthly basis. Also if someone subscribes for automatic monthly renewal, what is the subscription cost?

Definitions for Making Interactive Online Lessons

Throughout this post, we will talk about products, courses, and lessons. Before we proceed, let’s make sure you understand the concepts in the manner that we refer to them.

What is a product?

A product is the money associated with a course.

In order to get paid, you must have a product for every single thing you make on The Tutor Resource (TTR).

If you make a single lesson, you must have a product for the daily cost of the lesson as well as separate products for the weekly lesson cost, the monthly lesson cost, etc.  

What is a Course vs a Lesson?

A course can be several different things. A lesson is a subcategory of a course. Either a course consists of a single section (aka unit) and a lesson, or it can be many sections with many lessons. 

Pro Tip: Even if you make a single lesson, you still must make a course because the lesson is the subcategory of that course. 

What Are Course Categories?

Course categories allow subscribers who are shopping for interactive online classes to teach to filter results based on their preferences. You can assign more than one category to a lesson or a course.

However, it is important that only relevant categories be assigned to each lesson or course.

For example, a lesson about “The English Alphabet” should not have the categories “Holidays” assigned to it. Categories like “English Basics” or “ESL” would be a better fit.

How to Create an Online Interactive Class Step-by-Step on TTR

1. Add a New Product

• Click ‘Add New Product’ on The Tutor Resource Dashboard. 
• Add the Course description, course image, and costs here. 
• The product name should be the ”Course name (Duration).” E. g. “The English Alphabet (1 Day)” or “The English Alphabet (1 Month Subscription).
• The cost should be the correct price for the corresponding duration. E. g. “The English Alphabet (1 Day)” might cost $1 USD or “The English Alphabet (1 Month Subscription)” might cost $5 USD.

2. Add a Course

• Click ‘Add New Course.’ 
• At the main area of the screen, add the Title, Course Description, and Access Plan. The access plan links the course to the product and determines the product duration (1 day, 1 week, etc).
• On the right-hand side, add the Course Categories, Difficulties, and Course Image. 
• Click “Save Draft.”

3. Build a Course Outline

• Click “Launch Course Builder” at the bottom of the course creation area.
• On the right-hand side, under Add Elements, click “Section” for every unit in your course.
• Click “New Lesson” for every lesson in your unit. 
• Double click on each Section or Lesson name to title each one.
• Click “Save” in the bottom, right corner.

4. Build a Single Lesson

• Hover your mouse over the first Lesson you want to create.
• Click on the “W” (WordPress Logo). A new tab will open.
• In the main section of the new tab, you should see your lesson title, an orange box that says “Mark Complete” and a grey box that says “Go Back or Next.”
• Click the “+” (plus sign) next to the “W” in the top left corner. When you hover your mouse over the “+” it will say “toggle block inserter.”
• Type “paragraph” in the search box and click the option when it pops up. This will add a paragraph box to the lesson. 
• In the paragraph box, enter your Lesson Description.

Embedding Videos

• If you are embedding videos from other sites, click on the “+” again. 
  • Type the site on which the video is hosted (Vimeo, Youtube, etc). 
  • Click the correct option to add the video to the lesson.
  • Copy and paste the embed code or link into the block.
  • Click “Embed.”
• Click “+” to embed a slide presentation (Google Slides, PowerPoint, Genially, EdPuzzle, etc)
• Type “HTML” into the search box and click the option when it pops up. This will add an Html box to the lesson. 
• Find the embed code for the slide presentation you want to embed.
  • For Google Slides: Open the slide presentation in your Google Drive, click “file,” select “publish to web,” click “embed,” choose “Large” slide size, and click “publish” then “ok.” Your code will appear in a box for you to copy and paste into the TTR site.
  • For PowerPoint: Open the slide presentation in Office 365 or OneDrive. Type in the search box “embed,” click “Generate.” Your code will appear in a box for you to copy and paste into the TTR site.
  • For Genially: In your Genially panel, hover your mouse over your project. Find the “Share” icon on the top right of your project. Click “Insert Link” at the top of the popup window. Your code will appear in a box for you to copy and paste into the TTR site.
  • For EdPuzzle: Click “Share Preview” at the top right corner of the project. The bottom code that appears is the Html code. Copy and paste it into the TTR site.
  • For Canva: Click “Share” at the top right corner of your presentation screen. Click “more” in the popup menu, then click “embed.” Click “embed” a second time. Your code will appear in a box for you to copy and paste into the TTR site.
  • For another option not listed here, if you need help please contact The Tutor Resource.
• Copy the embed code from the slide presentation into the Html box.

Lesson Preview

• Click “Preview.” You should see your presentation. If there is an error, confirm your Html entry is correct. Don’t worry if the preview seems oversized.
• Click the pad and pen icon on the left-hand menu. When you hover over the icon with your mouse, it says “Lesson Settings.”
• Choose Normal or Left Sidebar for your Lesson Layout. 
  • People with single lessons, or lessons that are designed to progress in a specific order, should choose Normal.
  • If you choose Left Sidebar, then click “course sidebar” in the menu below it. The course sidebar will show all sections and lessons of your course. It will allow users to skip around and easily navigate through your lessons without having to go back to the main course screen.
• Click “Publish.”
• Close the tab to return to the course outline.

5. Publish the Course

• Follow all the steps in #4 above for each additional lesson in your outline.
  • Click the “W” next to your course name, at the top of the lesson outline, to return to the course creation page.
  • Click “Publish” at the top of the course creation page. 
  • This will give you a weblink on the right-hand side of the page. This is a direct link to your course that you can share anywhere on the internet, including on social media.
  • If you want your course to be added to your curriculum page, contact The Tutor Resource.

Congratulations! Your Interactive Online Class is LIVE!

Now that your interactive online class is live on TTR, you have two options. Either use the website to deliver the class to your own students or start promoting it to your subscribers or potential subscribers.

Optional Design Ideas for Online Interactive Classes 

Once you get comfortable making and selling online interactive classes on TTR, consider getting a bit more creative. There is a lot of additional functionality in the course creator program that we didn’t cover in this post.

Add other blocks that fit your design aesthetic. You can use the block inserter to add inspirational quotes or other unique content to your lesson pages.

You can move blocks around within the lesson to reorganize the layout. It can look almost any way you like. A different look from other creators on the platform can really make your online interactive classes stick out from the pack!

Consider adding additional photos or images. You can add watermarks to several of your content slides and add them as images to your lesson page as a preview for current or prospective subscribers.

You can even set certain lessons as FREE in the course builder allowing them to be viewed and used even without payment.

Pro Tip: Current users on our site have told us they really like this feature. Many users download these watermarked images to send to their students as class previews.

You can also add videos from inside the presentation to the bottom half of the main lesson screen. This allows teachers to have them as additional resources so they can see them outside the lesson for easier pre-class prep time.

Additionally, you can create an additional section and lesson at the end of your course and populate it with all of the videos, homework, and other interactive features that you want. This puts everything in one place for teachers’ ease of use.

Pro Tip: Always click “Update” after making any lesson changes!

Conclusion: Making and Selling Interactive Online Classes

It’s easier than many people imagine to make and sell online interactive classes. With the personalized support that the Tutor Resource offers to new content creators, all the answers to your questions are a simple email away!

Pro Tip: In addition to this handy blog post, we also have a growing library of how-to videos on YouTube. Some are members-only and can only be accessed when logged into the creator portal.

For content creators adding full curriculums, we also provide custom upload assistance and curriculum landing page packages. Contact us for more details!