Most online courses are not really courses.

They are video vaults, content dumps, or glorified workbooks with a “mark complete” button.

In this Connector’s Edge Conversation, Michael Whitehouse talks with Dr. Catrina Mitchum, a recovering academic and learning designer who helps business owners create courses, programs, memberships, and learning experiences that actually help clients get results.

Catrina brings nearly two decades of experience in higher education, where she taught teachers how to teach adults online. In this conversation, she explains why good course design is not about dumping everything you know into videos and PDFs. It is about helping people apply what they are learning, giving them the right amount of support, and designing around the outcomes you actually want your clients to achieve.

Michael and Catrina also explore how this applies to The Connector’s Edge itself: onboarding, member education, networking goals, user experience, and how to help people take action instead of simply giving them more information.

In this episode, Michael and Catrina talk about:

Why “a wall of content” is not a course
The difference between teaching and talking at someone
Why application needs to be built into the learning experience
How adults learn differently and why they need to know the purpose behind each activity
Why expertise can make it hard to explain what you actually do
How feedback can make a course more effective without requiring live teaching every step of the way
Why many learning platforms track the wrong things
How accessibility improves the learning experience for everyone
How The Connector’s Edge could use learning design to improve onboarding and member success
Catrina’s developing platform for helping people design better learning experiences

About Dr. Catrina Mitchum

Dr. Catrina Mitchum is a recovering academic and learning designer who helps business owners create courses like they give a shit about client outcomes.

She has nearly two decades of experience in higher education, teaching teachers how to teach adults online. Today, she helps small and mid-sized businesses create learning experiences that get results using learning science, instructional design, and adult learning theory.

She is also the host of Course Creation Crap, where she helps people get unstuck wherever they are in the course, program, membership, or learning experience creation process.

About The Connector’s Edge

This episode is part of Connector’s Edge Conversations, a series introducing you to the kind of thoughtful, interesting, aligned people you can meet inside The Connector’s Edge.

The Connector’s Edge helps you make better connections by matching you with people based on who you are, what you care about, and who you actually want to meet.

You can find Catrina on The Connector’s Edge. If you already have an account, log in and look for her profile. If you don’t have an account yet, you can create one for free at:

https://www.theconnectorsedge.com

TCE Guest: Dr. Catrina Mitchum