Let’s see the bare principles of creating a knowledge –based course. As I’ve said earlier, the teaching principles here must be different from a non-knowledge course, such as Yoga or road rage.

They sound common sensical, and they are. That’s how our process evolved.

First define the target audience in as much detail as possible. Then, work out the coverage.

So, if we’re defining our audience as new entrants to the BFS industry, who need an overview of Banking & Finance, our course outline starts falling into place. If we further detail them as graduates and post graduates with little or no knowledge about banking, who would typically be handling  branch client facing functions, then that makes the requirement even clearer.

In a knowledge based e-learning course,  content is king. We first need to get content that is practical, applicable to the audience, and which will enable her to do her job better. Note that, by this statement, I’m setting the context: we’re talking professional knowledge here, not, for instance, 10^th std. math. 

As we know, only someone who knows third principles, can explain first principles simply. Hence, what we need is someone who knows the subject well, writing the content simply and lucidly.

Next, we need to imbibe the best practices of teaching: make it simple, simple, simple. Keep the reader engaged and interested. Talk to her, ask her questions, and applaud her answers. Give examples which are relevant to her. Show her how a concept works in real life. For example,  after explaining how RBI uses reserve requirements to control inflation, if you show her an article which talks about INR 20 billion sucked out of the economy, and hence prices falling, she’ll say “hey! It’s real!”

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