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Frequently Asked Questions
Becoming An Instructor
There is no approval required. You do however need to register with us and we will of course need to vet through your content for obvious reasons. You can start by creating your account via the link above. Please note, in order to create paid courses, you’ll need an active bank account.
Before your course is published on our platform it will need to meet our course minimum requirements and guidelines, which can be viewed here.
No charges or fees are imposed to become an instructor on Open Cert. Instructors are paid according to a revenue sharing structure outlined here. When a student buys your course on our platform, revenue is shared between you and Open Cert, according to our formula.
You are free to choose any topic of your choice to teach on Open Cert, we do however have a short list of restricted topics. Please refer here.
Courses are arranged in sections and lesson formats for easy lesson flow so that students will have a conducive learning experience. Details on lesson format can be found here.
Additional teaching tools (like assignments, quizzes, and coding exercises, etc) can be added to create a rich learning experience for students.
For courses offering certification, we also offer instructors the ability to create a comprehensive structure up to mentoring and tutoring.
Courses can also be solely question based for Test Practice courses where students practice to sit for examinations or certifications. These courses are comprised solely of practice questions.
Detailed resources on how you can create a course on Open Cert and get started can be found here.
We emphasize on quality courses and rich learning experience for students. Towards that end we have a Quality Review Process that every course has to go through, before being approved to go live on Open Cert platform. Please view details here.
According to our formula revenue sharing, instructors will be paid every month based on the number of paid students registered for their course Instructors need to provide us with details of their bank account for the purpose of this payment. You will be paid on a monthly basis subject to terms. Details here.
You can choose to teach a course in any language of your choosing.
Courses on Open Cert are primarily video-based. You can however choose to offer your courses as text based in approved text format i.e. pdf etc. Additional teaching tools (like assignments, quizzes, and coding exercises, etc) can be added to create a rich learning experience for students.
While success as an instructor on Open Cert is not guaranteed, you should definitely make use of all available tools and data to help you make your decision.
Since we are primarily an on-demand platform, you’ll need to upload your video and/or other files directly to Open Cert. In other words, students must be able to view your course content on the Open Cert platform. Once your lessons are ready, you need to email us and we will take it from there.
As an instructor, you have the option to enrol in the Open Cert Promo Package, which is made up of several marketing channels that spotlight your course(s) in different ways. For more information on the programs, please click here.
Enrolling in the Open Cert Promo Package is optional. Your enrolment in this package gives Open Cert the option to promote your course, at a discount. Selection for promotion is not guaranteed.
Additionally, we provide instructors with extensive articles, resources and guidance materials to help you effectively market your course(s). For details please click here.
We do not take away your IP rights nor do we retain exclusive rights when you publish a course on our platform, you retain all the rights to your content. The instructor agreement will state that you simply grant us a license to host the course and make it available to our users, and to advertise your course on our platform and on third party services.
These license terms are outlined in detail in Open Cert’s instructor terms here. You are free to offer your course on other services, but we ask that your course is never offered for a lower price than on Open Cert. Note that if your course is included in the Open Cert for Business content collection, there may be additional distribution restrictions, as detailed in our Promotions Policy here.
In order to maintain the integrity, accountability and authenticity of our learning community, we do need to verify your identity before publishing any courses on the site. Instructors are free, however, to use a pen name or pseudonym in your profile. You don’t have to display your legal name if you don’t want to. Also we encourage instructors to include a profile picture of themselves which is optional.
An Open Cert course can consist of any combination of videos, text, assignments, quizzes, exercises and practice tests. You can also add other resources to your course, including: PDFs, links, audio files, etc. These components are structured into sections and lessons (sections are groups of lessons). Details here
We do not put any limit or restrictions to the course length. Your course should be as long as it takes to attain the objective of teaching your topic and facilitate your students to achieve the course objectives. You should take a look at other courses in your category to get an idea of how similar courses look like.
Creating a course take as much time as the quality that you want to put into it. The better the quality the more popular your course is and that is a good thing. Many of our instructors have been known to get their courses done within 30 days.
Yes! An overwhelming majority of Open Cert students have indicated that a balanced course needs to have tests, quizzes and assignments for them to practice and apply what they have learned. Assignments or practice activities can be anything that let a student apply their skills and newfound knowledge. Open Cert platform allows you to create quizzes, practice tests, exercises and assignments in your course which you can edit anytime as the Instructor.
We do not have any limits or restrictions for courses, Instructors decide how their course should be. We do however make suggestions or give guidelines on your courses to make them more effective and more engaging. Course guidelines can be viewed here. We do require that courses promote or support our civil society values by avoiding certain topics. Details here.
