Speaker: Catelyn Fitzgerald, Education Associate, U.S. Green Building Council
How can Education Partners write compelling short descriptions for their courses?
Catelyn Fitzgerald: So the short description for a course appears right underneath the title and will be one of the first things that people read when they click on your course in the course catalog and open it up to the full course page. So this is a great opportunity if you feel like you are unable to get to the level of detail that you want in the title. Um in order to have a more concise title, then you can use a short description to just include a slightly longer um bit of text that will tell people more specifically about what they can expect from the course content. I think that some of the most engaging course descriptions are the ones that are phrased as a question or a statement that encapsulates um sort of a claim or the primary question that is addressed in the course. Um So it doesn't have to just be a statement that says you will learn about this topic. You can really phrase it to be more like a thesis statement for your course or that central question that's answered. And when people read that they'll want to say, oh, what is the answer to this question or when they read that claim, they'll want to, it'll pull them in because they'll want to learn more about why you've made that claim and what information you have backing that claim up. So this is a great place to just have a little fun and just really offer one or two short sentences. It should still be very short so that people can just read through it quickly and go decide if they want to learn more and continue reading the course page or if they would like to look for something else. You can also always mention in the short description as long as you're still keeping it brief. You know, if a certain person or organization is presenting that you think would draw people in to want to take the course or talk about the type of content that the course includes whether it's a video presentation or written content. You can always mention that in the short description as well. This is just a great chance to just be creative and have fun with it while still keeping it brief and you know, still making sure you truly cover what the course is about.
