The Creator Economy of Teaching
You don’t need a traditional teaching job to teach. Here are a few platforms that let you turn something you already know into something other people can learn.
WAYS TO TEACH
9/11/20262 min read
When we think about the creator economy, we usually think about YouTube, podcasts, newsletters and social media.
But there’s a teaching version of it too.
There are platforms where you can take something you know how to do, turn it into something you can teach, and find people who want to learn it. Depending on the platform, that could mean a live class you teach every Saturday, a course you record once, or something completely different.
The quick version:
Outschool: Create your own classes for kids and teens.
Udemy: Turn what you know into an online course.
Skillshare: Create project-based classes around creative skills.
Basalingo: Teach a skill through another language.
Outschool
Outschool lets educators create their own online classes for kids and teens. You choose what you want to teach, create the class, set the schedule and price, and families can enroll through the marketplace. Classes can cover traditional subjects like math and writing, but also cooking, art, coding, gaming, music and all kinds of other interests.
Udemy
Udemy is built around courses rather than live teaching. If you know something other people want to learn, you can build a course around it and sell it through the marketplace. This could be anything from programming and business skills to photography or personal development.
Skillshare
Skillshare is especially focused on creative subjects like illustration, design, photography, video and animation. Teachers create recorded classes centered around something students make or do. Its earning model is different too: eligible teachers can earn based partly on how members watch and engage with their classes.
Basalingo
Basalingo takes a different approach. Instead of teaching a language as the subject, providers teach kids practical skills and activities through another language. So someone might teach art, music, sports or another activity while giving the child an immersive language experience at the same time. Basalingo is currently preparing to launch.
What do you know that you could teach?
This is the part I find interesting about the creator side of teaching: you don’t have to start with a teaching job. You can start with something you already know and teach it.
Robotics if you're an engineer. Photography, sewing, cooking, coding, music, there are so many things you can teach. If you're bilingual, you could even combine a skill you have with another language you speak through Basalingo.
This may not look anything like traditional classroom teaching.
But if you’re considering teaching and wondering whether you would enjoy helping other people learn something you know, creating something to teach might be one way to find out.