Creating K-12 Learning Materials

About This Course

Do you have an idea for an instructional aid? The instructor--a former K-12 teacher who is also the author and developer of over 50 products for the educational market, will help you develop instructional aids that align with standards important to your district.

This exciting program will show you how how to create and self-publish work books, lab manuals, booklets, activity kits, visual aids, manipulatives, and other powerful instructional aids. You'll also learn how to profit from your ideas by offering the products you develop for sale through catalogs, stores, and trade shows.

About The Instructor

This course includes a knowledgeable and caring instructor who will guide you through your lessons, facilitate discussions, and answer your questions. The instructor for this course will be Michael McMillan.

After graduating from Western Michigan University with degrees in chemistry and mathematics, Mike McMillan was employed as an inner-city public school teacher for more than fourteen years. While teaching, he developed a number of supplemental instructional materials that found their way into the catalogs of many educational product distributors. Since 1989, Mike has worked full time developing a wide variety of student activity kits, instructional videos, supplemental work books, lab manuals, and study guides for the K-12 education market. Mike has been interviewed on some of the nation's largest radio stations and television programs, including ABC World News. In addition to his online courses, Mike does over 80 live seminars related to self-publishing each year.

Syllabus

A new section of each course starts monthly. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.

Week 1

Wednesday - Lesson 01

In our first lesson, we'll talk about the types of instructional aids you might consider developing. But more than that, I'll show you specific examples of actual aids I've developed and marketed in each category: printed book(lets), manipulatives, student activity kits, and more. Then, I'll introduce you to the power of the print-on-demand technology, a technology that allows you to produce book(lets) of the same quality and appearance as the books you find in book stores—and in only classroom quantities! It's a "wow" moment that will get you excited about the possibilities awaiting you.

Friday - Lesson 02

Is there a secret that will virtually guarantee your success in developing a winning instructional aid—one that increases student performance, the learning underlying that performance, and the probability it can be marketed successfully? You bet there is—it's called reverse engineering and it's the most exciting, most powerful concept in this course. In this lesson, we'll incorporate a fusion of reverse engineering with a 10-part developmental platform to help you align your product design with student performance standards.

Week 2

Wednesday - Lesson 03

I hear you saying, "But Mike, can I really compete with the major educational publishers?" My answer will surprise you: the question isn't whether you can compete with them, but whether they can compete with you! You'll find that they can't. The future of educational publishing lies not with the major publishers, but with individual teachers—teachers just like you! I'll show you step by step how to market the instructional aid you develop through huge educational product distributors. I'll do something for you that your district can't: I'll show you how to profit financially from your great ideas!

Friday - Lesson 04

In this lesson, we'll take an in-depth look at the heart of designing printed instructional aids. From page layout, to nonvolatile student response materials, to my 20-part checklist for organizing the development of your product—we'll get you on the fast track to success in a hurry.

Week 3

Wednesday - Lesson 05

Today we'll explore student activity kits. I'll give you a developmental platform to organize your progress, and then we'll move on to covering safety issues, locating the components you need, and developing a bill of materials. Then we'll look at specific examples of student activity kits that I've developed and how you can build off of my ideas.

Friday - Lesson 06

The fun is just beginning! Manipulatives, models, and games—these are the topics today. There are benefits of turning your idea for a printed instructional aid into one of these products, too. These types of instructional aids can boost your profits if you plan on marketing your product, and they'll give students a hands-on aspect to their learning. Let's not forget—these products are just plain fun for kids to use!

Week 4

Wednesday - Lesson 07

Break out the director's chair—today we'll talk about developing video instructional products. "But Mike, I just want to develop a simple instructional booklet." Good for you, and that's exactly how I felt with my first few products. But in today's lesson, you'll learn exactly how I created over a dozen network-quality video learning products without spending a dime to do it. You'll learn how to develop quality video instructional aids using state of the art technologies, and do it for pennies. We'll discuss the development of a video aid I developed which turned into a product that now sells for over $1,000 in dozens of catalogs of the largest educational product developers around the world!

Friday - Lesson 08

In this lesson, I'll fully explain the education market and how to get your product into that market. How can you sell you product yourself? How can you get huge educational distributors to carry your product in their catalogs? When is the best time to promote your product? Who do you need to contact with your product? I'll answer all these questions and more today.

Week 5

Wednesday - Lesson 09

Today we'll talk about the secret tools of the trade that self-published authors know about that help assure their success. I'll give you contacts for marketing your product, as well as tips for software to make your job easier.

Friday - Lesson 10

In this lesson, we'll address the question of standards, student performance, and the instructional aids you develop. We'll look at not only increasing specific student performances, but also at improving the actual learning underlying that performance.

Week 6

Wednesday - Lesson 11

To boldly go where no one has gone before. Sounds like the opening line from a Star Trek movie, but this is exactly what this lesson is about. I not only want you to develop a winning product, I want you to promote that fact to your community. I want them to realize that you have done something special. So today, we'll look at how you can use the media—print, radio, and television—to promote what you've done to your community and beyond. I'll show you exactly how I've used these techniques to book author interviews for many of my own books on over 100 radio stations and television programs, like ABC's World News. I'll give you contacts, techniques, and tips on how you can do the same. I want to make you famous!

Friday - Lesson 12

In our last lesson, you'll find out how to incorporate what you've learned to help others in your own building. We'll discuss an infrastructure you can develop that will involve your peers in developing instructional aids, too! You'll become the focal point for reality-based change within your district!

Requirements

Internet access, e-mail, the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser, and the Adobe Flash and PDF plug-ins (two free and simple downloads you obtain at http://www.adobe.com/downloads by clicking Get Adobe Flash Player and Get Adobe Reader).