3 Tips For Choosing Your Next Class Topic

We know that sometimes the hardest part of creating a new class is deciding what to teach next. 

Whether you have a million ideas or none at all, check out our best practices for choosing your next class topic to set yourself up for success.

1. Analyze what's working: 

Check out your “Teacher Stats” dashboard and ask yourself a couple questions: Which of my classes have been the most successful and why? What techniques, materials, or projects have the highest engagement from my students?

Once you know what's working, lean into that type of content. While you won’t want to teach the same exact topic twice, consider building upon successful topics by teaching an intermediate or advanced course, which allows you to engage all of the students in the previous class, as well as attract new students who are ready to advance their skills in that area.

Teacher Tip: Kiara Smithee found success teaching students how to grow their brand using Instagram, so she leaned into that topic by releasing other classes related to Instagram, including how to build an engaged following and tips for setting and achieving marketing goals.

2. Listen to your social media following:

What have your followers been asking to learn? What types of posts get the most engagement? Consider teaching a class on something that has already resonated with your following.

Teacher Tip: Peggy Dean noticed that she was receiving tons of comments and likes when she shared videos and photos featuring flourishes, so she capitalized on her engagement and created a class covering that topic.

3. Survey your students:

Surveying your student following on Skillshare is another great way to uncover your next class topic. Utilize our on-site ‘Discussion’ feature to email all of your followers at once, asking what they want to learn next or offering them a few topics they can vote on.

Teacher Tip: Dylan Mierzwinski sent out a discussion post to her Skillshare following sharing three class topics she wanted to teach. The comments on her post allowed her to narrow in on what her following was most excited about.

Utilize one or all of these tips and you’ll be well on your way to your next successful Skillshare class!

Create Your Next Class!