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Starting an online College/Academy

by IwannaTeach
4 replies
Hi

I have been toying with the idea of starting my own online distance learning college / academy for some time and need some advice and help. My ultimate goal is aiming to achieve something like stonebridge associated colleges, online academies, center of excellence, open study college etc.

I need some information on the best places to buy or obtain white label courses off the shelf courses that i can sell through my college. Either already accredited courses or ones i can pursue obtaining accreditation later down the line.

I have looked at PLR and compiling my own courses but in my search I have found that a lot of PLR content seems to be focused around articles rather than completed off the shelf course content. Can you recommend any reasonably priced but still quality PLR course content providers?

I have also looked for ready to go "off the shelf courses" but the only ones i could find seemed to be only CPD worthy very short and without good content for high prices. Or focus solely around the tech or finance industry. Are there any "off the shelf" provider that offer a diverse range of courses?

For now i will pretty much be a one man team (due to financial restrictions) so cannot create my own courses. I have skills in web development and design and 82 qualifications in multiple area's so I have a vast range of knowledge and can create the physical LMS by myself. It is the content i am struggling with. I know this sounds like a lot of work but once i have students signed up i will have tutors that will be providing student support and completed the assessments for ad-hoc fees.

Or are there any good providers that offer a white-label solution so i can run the college and administer the courses myself, but pay them a commission based on the content.

I know there are affiliate options available but i want to be more envloved than simply advertising and driving traffic to their business.

All help and advice is greatly appreciated.
#college or academy #online #starting
  • Profile picture of the author GordonJ
    Originally Posted by IwannaTeach View Post

    Hi

    I have been toying with the idea of starting my own online distance learning college / academy for some time and need some advice and help. My ultimate goal is aiming to achieve something like stonebridge associated colleges, online academies, center of excellence, open study college etc.

    I need some information on the best places to buy or obtain white label courses off the shelf courses that i can sell through my college. Either already accredited courses or ones i can pursue obtaining accreditation later down the line.

    I have looked at PLR and compiling my own courses but in my search I have found that a lot of PLR content seems to be focused around articles rather than completed off the shelf course content. Can you recommend any reasonably priced but still quality PLR course content providers?

    I have also looked for ready to go "off the shelf courses" but the only ones i could find seemed to be only CPD worthy very short and without good content for high prices. Or focus solely around the tech or finance industry. Are there any "off the shelf" provider that offer a diverse range of courses?

    For now i will pretty much be a one man team (due to financial restrictions) so cannot create my own courses. I have skills in web development and design and 82 qualifications in multiple area's so I have a vast range of knowledge and can create the physical LMS by myself. It is the content i am struggling with. I know this sounds like a lot of work but once i have students signed up i will have tutors that will be providing student support and completed the assessments for ad-hoc fees.

    Or are there any good providers that offer a white-label solution so i can run the college and administer the courses myself, but pay them a commission based on the content.

    I know there are affiliate options available but i want to be more envloved than simply advertising and driving traffic to their business.

    All help and advice is greatly appreciated.
    Why?

    Why are you toying with this idea? Do you have ANY experience? It doesn't sound like it.

    There are scores of white label providers, and tons of white label courseware available.

    If you want INvolvement, what sort of "college" will you offer? Who is your target "student"?

    What sort of involvement do you want? It sounds, at this stage, like a really half baked idea playing around the toy box of your mind, maybe spend some time to flesh it out and learn how to really use google and find all the white label courses you need. Eh?

    GordonJ

    PS From an IM perspective, you start with a PROSPECT, YOUR student,where will you find that person, what are they looking for, and how will they find you and the your courses? How big is your student acquisition budget? What is your break even point? How many courses will have to be taken to get your college in the black, what is the cost of any accreditation you will offer?
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    • Profile picture of the author IwannaTeach
      maybe i shouldn't have used the word toying, I have been thinking about this for some time.

      Experience wise from a student perspective, i have attended 16 different distance learning colleges, used 4 different online cpd providers, attended 2 "brick" UK colleges and obtained 2 distance learning degrees ( 1 UK university BSc and 1 US university BS). I know where they go wrong and i know what they do right. Yes i have not worked for a distance learning provider before but been on the other end a lot. I have been a director of a UK limited based so am familiar with the business side of things.

      I am qualified NVQ workplace and GNVQ assessor ( so i can issues certificates for the later).

      It will be a UK style online further education college, offering pretty much the same qualifications as a brick college would offer (up to HNC/HND).

      Students will be able to apply through UCAS (this will come with time) or directly to the college, there will not be a restriction on places. I have already created a marking software that will mark multiple choice based assignments in JAVA so would only need man power to mark written assessments, as i said i have this side of it arranged. I also already have my own data, mail and web servers system so this is no extra cost and i can personally code all the front and back end .

      I plan to have all the courses built and the site built before the college opens so it is all ready to go will be about 1-2 years from now depending on how fast i can code it all. Then i will focus on recruiting students course prices will vary from £300 or so for a certificate to upto £3,500 (HNC) with funding options. So break even will depend on the type of student to be honest, and how much the overall at the moment the unknown course-ware will cost, this is the bit i am struggling with as still struggling to find decent courseware.

      The real struggle i am facing is looking for decent course ware, I have looked at the first 8 pages of google for each search term ["white label courseware" "customizable course content", "re branded courseware", "PLR courses" "Courses for sale" "course content for sale"] and many other terms all the result back are mainly for people selling a 5-15 page pdf as a course to drive affiliate links or for cross sales, or offered a course in e-learning, self development soft skills courses or just had really really bad content. i contacted the aforementioned colleges [sic] but they were and understandably withholding with discussing their suppliers.

      That's why i asked here to see if anyone new a good provider, i know there must be several out there but my google fu doesn't seem to be upto finding them, hence why I asked here for help.
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      • Profile picture of the author GordonJ
        Originally Posted by IwannaTeach View Post

        maybe i shouldn't have used the word toying, I have been thinking about this for some time.

        Experience wise from a student perspective, i have attended 16 different distance learning colleges, used 4 different online cpd providers, attended 2 "brick" UK colleges and obtained 2 distance learning degrees ( 1 UK university BSc and 1 US university BS). I know where they go wrong and i know what they do right. Yes i have not worked for a distance learning provider before but been on the other end a lot. I have been a director of a UK limited based so am familiar with the business side of things.

        I am qualified NVQ workplace and GNVQ assessor ( so i can issues certificates for the later).

        It will be a UK style online further education college, offering pretty much the same qualifications as a brick college would offer (up to HNC/HND).

        Students will be able to apply through UCAS (this will come with time) or directly to the college, there will not be a restriction on places. I have already created a marking software that will mark multiple choice based assignments in JAVA so would only need man power to mark written assessments, as i said i have this side of it arranged. I also already have my own data, mail and web servers system so this is no extra cost and i can personally code all the front and back end .

        I plan to have all the courses built and the site built before the college opens so it is all ready to go will be about 1-2 years from now depending on how fast i can code it all. Then i will focus on recruiting students course prices will vary from £300 or so for a certificate to upto £3,500 (HNC) with funding options. So break even will depend on the type of student to be honest, and how much the overall at the moment the unknown course-ware will cost, this is the bit i am struggling with as still struggling to find decent courseware.

        The real struggle i am facing is looking for decent course ware, I have looked at the first 8 pages of google for each search term ["white label courseware" "customizable course content", "re branded courseware", "PLR courses" "Courses for sale" "course content for sale"] and many other terms all the result back are mainly for people selling a 5-15 page pdf as a course to drive affiliate links or for cross sales, or offered a course in e-learning, self development soft skills courses or just had really really bad content. i contacted the aforementioned colleges [sic] but they were and understandably withholding with discussing their suppliers.

        That's why i asked here to see if anyone new a good provider, i know there must be several out there but my google fu doesn't seem to be upto finding them, hence why I asked here for help.
        Even in the UK, they still capitalize the pronoun I. It doesn't hurt to ask at WF, but aren't there other places better suited to ask about courseware? Good luck.

        Gordon

        PS. Why not start with ONE course, or the ones you are qualified to offer certifications in?
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  • Profile picture of the author dave_hermansen
    I just can't imagine there is a single white label course out there worth buying, let alone selling. White label is another term for generic. Good courses are ones that people put their names or their company's brand on.

    I think if I was going to start this endeavor, I would be seeking the very best online courses out there and negotiating with the owners of those courses about a wholesale price or affiliate arrangement.

    I doubt, however, that anyone with a decent course is just going to turn it over to you to market as your own, which is what makes this especially difficult. In an ideal world, you'd tell them "I'll pay you $10,000 (which is probably far too cheap for anything especially good) in exchange for including your course in our curriculum, where all of our members will have access to it." Then, people could sign up for your "college" and you would charge them for access to every course you've got. Whether you would charge a recurring monthly fee or a one-time big charge is up to you. There are pluses and minuses to both.
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