From Canvas course to website content

One of the first courses I helped build in this role (probably 6 or 7 years ago) was an online version of the Business Retention and Expansion course (BRE). This is a curriculum that had been taught in person for a long time before that, too.

The team responsible for it is focused on other areas now and was interested in making the information available more widely, free of charge. There are a lot of good reasons for this. For example:

• Search engines will be more likely to bring prospective audiences to you when you have more relevant content on Extension’s website.

• Higher value opportunities (fee-based consultations or action research opportunities): people are more likely to trust in your expertise and hire you when they are more familiar with your work and process.

• We’re a public good entity — Why not provide a DIY option?

I worked with the lead educator, Michael, and web team member, Elise, to help open up access to their educational content, mining the course site and existing web page content and formatting it in a way that "fits" the website. Check out BRE's new introductory webpage!

If you’ve used our Platform Decision Guide, you may already know that if you:

• Don’t have the time or desire to facilitate a learning experience (direct interaction, not “set it and forget it” content);
• You don’t NEED to track “completion” or collect fees; and
• You want to share the information widely AND long-term…

Extension.umn.edu is likely a good fit for your content (consult the web team to discuss).