A course, a membership, or a live cohort?
Choose a delivery format around how your learners use your teaching—and the work you can sustain.
An online program can take several shapes. Choosing a format early helps you plan content, learner access, and the ongoing work behind the scenes. The most useful starting question is how learners need to use your teaching.
Choose a course for a defined learning route
A course suits a topic with a clear sequence and a recognizable endpoint. Learners move through the approved material in an order you have chosen, with any exercises or review points included along the way.
Before building, define the prerequisites, access period, and completion requirements. Decide whether learners need help at particular stages and who will provide that help. A self-paced label should not leave people guessing where to ask a question.
An established workshop can be a good source for this kind of structure. Its teaching sequence, examples, and recurring questions can help you identify the sections an online learner will need.
Choose a membership for an ongoing resource relationship
A membership can provide continued access to a library, recurring sessions, or a defined schedule of new material. It asks for an operating rhythm as well as a platform.
Describe what members receive during each access period. Be specific about the update schedule you can maintain and the support you intend to offer. A useful, well-organized library can be more sustainable than a promise to publish new lessons constantly.
Plan how resources are labeled, which versions remain available, and what happens when membership ends. These decisions affect navigation, communications, and the access rules the platform must support.
Choose a cohort when shared timing matters
A cohort brings a group through a program on a shared schedule. It can combine preparation, live teaching, discussion, and work that you review.
The calendar becomes part of the product. Publish the dates, time zone, attendance expectations, and replay policy clearly. Determine what happens if a learner misses a session, and include those instructions in the onboarding sequence.
If discussion is central to the teaching, the cohort structure can preserve that interaction while giving everyone one place to find the material.
A hybrid can be a focused first version
You can combine formats deliberately. One workshop might use a small online preparation area and a time-limited replay library. A course might include scheduled office hours. A membership might contain a defined introductory course.
Start with the combination that serves the learner and that your team can operate. Each added component creates content, access, and communication decisions. Make those responsibilities visible before the build.
Put the decision in writing
Before selecting features, document the learner, the main teaching promise, the access period, and the support rhythm. Add any live dates and review requirements. This brief makes platform decisions easier to evaluate.
If you are still choosing, bring an existing workshop or resource library to a planning conversation. We can help identify the delivery structure that fits the material and scope the work around it.
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