Course Creation Crap: Learning Design for Business with Dr. Catrina Mitchum

The course creation industry is drowning in crap, and Dr. Catrina Mitchum has zero patience for it and the knowledge and experience to fix it. Every other week, she troubleshoots real course creation problems with real business owners who are genuinely stuck, using actual learning science. Because your people deserve better than a folder of videos they'll never finish.

Course Creation Crap: Learning Design for Business with Dr. Catrina Mitchum is a business podcast hosted by Dr. Catrina Mitchum, with 15 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Dr. Catrina Mitchum hosts Course Creation Crap: Learning Design for Business with Dr. Catrina Mitchum, a business show with 15 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

• 

  Episode #15

  15: When a Standalone Course Isn't Enough: Adding the Support Layer with Brenda Brusegard

  Aug 20, 202634 minS1

  You built the course. People bought it. And then nobody did anything with it. That's exactly where Brenda Brusegard found herself, and in this episode, she and Dr. Catrina Mitchum work through what's actually missing and what it looks like to add the support layer that makes a course worth buying in the first place. Topics covered in this episode: Why people buy self-paced courses with every intention of doing them and then don't — and what course designers can do about it on the front end The difference between accountability support and Q&A support, and why a single well-designed session can deliver both at once How setting expectations before learners get access can prevent the gap between what they signed up for and what the course actually asks of them Why "course burnout" is real, why learners are tired of being left alone with a video library, and why adding support changes the value proposition entirely The research behind why feeling supported matters as much as content quality when it comes to whether adults actually finish what they start What 90-minute co-working and question sessions can do that asynchronous content simply cannot The case for leading with a membership instead of a standalone course — and how to make that pivot without starting from scratch How to use feedback you've already collected from existing learners to build out your first three months of programming If you've got a course that people are buying but not finishing, this one is going to hit close to home. Brenda came in with a real problem and left with a real plan, and there's plenty in here for you to take and apply today. About Brenda Brusegard Brenda Brusegard is the founder of Informed Tech Solutions, where she helps small business owners cut through the noise and actually use technology to run better businesses. A former science teacher turned tech strategist, she specializes in making AI and business systems accessible, practical, and worth the time investment. Informed Tech Solutions The AI Lab If your course exists but something feels off, nobody's finishing or it just isn't landing the way you know it could, grab the free Course Fixer Checklist at www.cmlearningdesign.com/free-stuff and start figuring out what to fix first. Not sure where you fit? Book a free 15-minute Clarity Call at tidycal.com/cmitchum/15-minute-consult. Apply to be a guest: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://forms.gle/RDHPskg81r3GhSd59⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect with Catrina: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.cmlearningdesign.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠linkedin.com/in/catrina-mitchum-learning-design⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to my ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cut the Course Creation Crap Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Music credit: Alex Mitchum Alex, Catrina's youngest brother, was a jazz guitarist and his family established a scholarship in his name at his alma mater. Please consider donating: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.alexmitchum.com/scholarship⁠

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #14

  14: BS Breakthrough: Does Your Course Need to Be Redesigned, Not Just Adapted?

  Aug 6, 202615 minS1

  When you move your live coaching or teaching into a self-paced course, the instinct is to take what already works and translate it. Same content, same order, same structure. But what if the thing that makes it work when you're in the room is you? This bite-sized BS Breakthrough pulls from Dr. Catrina Mitchum's recent live course design consultation with ADHD coach Corie Wightlin, and the three design shifts that came out of it apply well beyond ADHD coaching. Topics Covered Why "creating access" through a course means more than lowering the price or removing the waitlist, and what it actually requires you to redesign How to identify what you're providing in a live setting that needs to be built directly into your course structure when you're not there Why some foundational content doesn't belong in a module at all, and what to do with it instead The difference between linear and cyclical learning progressions, and how spaced repetition applies to everyone (not just learners who struggle) Why "bite-sized" means something different depending on who your learner is, and the case for building integration lessons so people connect concepts before piling on more content If you're in the middle of building a course to reach people who can't work with you live, this episode gives you three concrete things to look at before you finalize your structure. The question isn't whether your content is good. It's whether the way you've organized it can actually hold up without you in the room. About Corie Wightlin Corie Wightlin is an ADHD Coach for the whole family who helps all members find ease, confidence, and tools that actually work for their brain through her business, Wightlin Coaching Services. Website: https://wightlincoachingservices.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wightlincoachingservices/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wightlinadhdcoaching/ Course creation is complex, but you do not have to figure it out alone, and you definitely do not have to do it someone else's way. If your course exists but something feels off, nobody's finishing or it just isn't landing the way you know it could, grab the free Course Fixer Checklist at www.cmlearningdesign.com/free-stuff and start figuring out what to fix first. Not sure where you fit? Book a free 15-minute Clarity Call at tidycal.com/cmitchum/15-minute-consult. Apply to be a guest: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://forms.gle/RDHPskg81r3GhSd59⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect with Catrina: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.cmlearningdesign.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠linkedin.com/in/catrina-mitchum-learning-design⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to my ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cut the Course Creation Crap Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Music credit: Alex Mitchum Alex, Catrina's youngest brother, was a jazz guitarist and his family established a scholarship in his name at his alma mater. Please consider donating: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.alexmitchum.com/scholarship⁠

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #13

  13: From Live Coaching to Evergreen Course: An ADHD-Friendly Redesign

  Jul 23, 202650 minS1

  What happens when a coach who's brilliant in the room needs to build a course that works without her in it? Dr. Catrina Mitchum sits down with ADHD coach Corie Wightlin to redesign her group coaching program as a self-paced course, one that respects how ADHD brains actually learn instead of dumping content and hoping for the best. What We Work Through Why "access to you" means both time and affordability, and how a course can serve people before, during, and after 1:1 work Designing for self-paced learners when you can't control how often they show up Building frequent, low-lift check-ins (yes, even frowny-face-to-happy-face scales) so strategies don't disappear out of sight, out of mind Turning coaching moments into concrete course activities: examples, self-selection, and reflection instead of you reading the room Why market research questions like "if I wasn't here..." tell you what your self-directed learners actually need Letting learners choose tools they'll actually use instead of forcing a platform that becomes the whole struggle Removing barriers with asynchronous feedback: short, varied, and placed exactly where learners get sticky Why every platform is garbage, and why starting with what you already have (and works on a phone) beats spending gobs of money Corie walked in with workshops that only worked live and walked out with a structure, a mapping plan, and an "I can actually do this now." If you're trying to turn something that works because you're in the room into something that works without you, this one's your roadmap. About Corie Wightlin Corie Wightlin is an ADHD Coach for the whole family who helps all members find ease, confidence, and tools that actually work for their brain through her business, Wightlin Coaching Services. Website: https://wightlincoachingservices.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wightlincoachingservices/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wightlinadhdcoaching/ Course creation is complex, but you do not have to figure it out alone, and you definitely do not have to do it someone else's way. If your course exists but something feels off, nobody's finishing or it just isn't landing the way you know it could, grab the free Course Fixer Checklist at www.cmlearningdesign.com/free-stuff and start figuring out what to fix first. Not sure where you fit? Book a free 15-minute Clarity Call at tidycal.com/cmitchum/15-minute-consult. Apply to be a guest: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://forms.gle/RDHPskg81r3GhSd59⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect with Catrina: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.cmlearningdesign.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠linkedin.com/in/catrina-mitchum-learning-design⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to my ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cut the Course Creation Crap Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Music credit: Alex Mitchum Alex, Catrina's youngest brother, was a jazz guitarist and his family established a scholarship in his name at his alma mater. Please consider donating: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.alexmitchum.com/scholarship⁠

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #12

  12: BS Breakthrough: Stop creating new stuff, start using what you already have

  Jul 9, 202613 minS1

  If your course has a completion problem, the fix probably isn't the completion. In this BS Breakthroughs episode, Dr. Catrina Mitchum unpacks what she learned working through Luna Muñoz's CV course for academics leaving higher ed, and lands on a diagnosis that catches a lot of course creators off guard: you might not have a completion problem. You might have half a course. What We Dig Into The "half course" trap. People weren't finishing Luna's course because it started at execution and skipped the discovery work that has to come first. If your learners are dropping off, the real question isn't how to boost completion, it's what they need to figure out before they can do the thing you're teaching. Why the messy figuring-out phase is the part you can't skip. Discovery is where people waffle, second-guess, and get overwhelmed by their own options. It's hard to teach, which is exactly why so many courses leave it out and quietly break. Stop creating, start integrating. Luna already had a quiz, an assessment, and a skills-translation freebie sitting unused. Before you build something new to fill a gap, audit what you've already got. Repurposing is less creative work, and it frees you up to actually design the experience. Coaching calls are a feature, not a failure. Adding live support at the stickiest point in a course doesn't mean the course is broken. It means you know where people get stuck and you built help right into the design instead of scrambling to react later. Your homework. Map the learning journey your course actually needs, back up to the discovery work that comes before execution, and pull in the assets you already have before making anything new. This one is for anyone sitting on a course people aren't finishing, whether that's half a course, a third, or two thirds. The completion number is a symptom. This episode is about finding the actual problem so you can fix the right thing. About Luna Muñoz Luna Muñoz helps early and mid-career academics transform and translate their skills for audiences outside academia through her business, Luna Leadership. Her work spans translating academic expertise into language the job market understands, helping people figure out where they actually want to go next, and building the kind of self-awareness work (strengths, values, and skills mapping) that has to happen before a CV ever gets written. She supports PhD students, postdocs, and researchers navigating the move beyond higher education. Find Luna: Website: lunaleadership.com Links: https://linktr.ee/lunacenti Course creation is complex, but you do not have to figure it out alone, and you definitely do not have to do it someone else's way. If your course exists but something feels off, nobody's finishing or it just isn't landing the way you know it could, grab the free Course Fixer Checklist at www.cmlearningdesign.com/free-stuff and start figuring out what to fix first. Not sure where you fit? Book a free 15-minute Clarity Call at tidycal.com/cmitchum/15-minute-consult. Apply to be a guest: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://forms.gle/RDHPskg81r3GhSd59⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect with Catrina: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.cmlearningdesign.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠linkedin.com/in/catrina-mitchum-learning-design⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to my ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cut the Course Creation Crap Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Music credit: Alex Mitchum Alex, Catrina's youngest brother, was a jazz guitarist and his family established a scholarship in his name at his alma mater. Please consider donating: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.alexmitchum.com/scholarship⁠

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #11

  11: You Already Built the Course: Reorganizing What You Have Instead of Starting Over

  Jun 25, 202650 minS1

  You built the thing. You actually finished it. And then it just... sat there as a bonus inside your one-on-one work while the version you imagined selling never quite happened. This week Dr. Catrina Mitchum sits down with Luna Muñoz of Luna Leadership to take apart a CV course that was quietly working as a supplement and figure out what it would take to make it stand on its own. What starts as a "why won't people finish this course" problem turns into something much more useful: a real-time reorganization of an entire course, built almost entirely from materials Luna already had sitting in folders, unsold and unconnected. What We Work Through Why "nobody finishes my course" often isn't a completion problem at all, but a sign the course is doing a different job than you think it is How to read your own learner data honestly, and what to do when your platform charges you extra just to see how your students are actually moving through your material The difference between a course that needs discovery built into it and one that assumes people already know where they are headed, and why skipping discovery quietly kills completion Why pulling people backward through earlier work is not failure or filler, and how to design that re-entry on purpose so it does not feel like starting over How giving learners options in how they complete an activity, not what the activity is, can do real work for completion without watering anything down Why naming the "why" behind every step matters, especially for adult learners who will absolutely opt out of anything that smells like busy work Where a short, well-placed call belongs in a mostly self-paced course, and how to use it without chaining yourself back to weekly Zoom By the end, Luna walks away with homework, a reordered course outline, and a stack of things she already made that finally have somewhere to live. If you have ever created something good and then let it gather dust, this one is going to feel familiar. About Luna Muñoz Luna Muñoz helps early and mid-career academics transform and translate their skills for audiences outside academia through her business, Luna Leadership. Her work spans translating academic expertise into language the job market understands, helping people figure out where they actually want to go next, and building the kind of self-awareness work (strengths, values, and skills mapping) that has to happen before a CV ever gets written. She supports PhD students, postdocs, and researchers navigating the move beyond higher education. Find Luna: Website: lunaleadership.com Links: https://linktr.ee/lunacenti Course creation is complex, but you do not have to figure it out alone, and you definitely do not have to do it someone else's way. If your course exists but something feels off, nobody's finishing or it just isn't landing the way you know it could, grab the free Course Fixer Checklist at www.cmlearningdesign.com/free-stuff and start figuring out what to fix first. Not sure where you fit? Book a free 15-minute Clarity Call at tidycal.com/cmitchum/15-minute-consult. Apply to be a guest: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://forms.gle/RDHPskg81r3GhSd59⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect with Catrina: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.cmlearningdesign.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠linkedin.com/in/catrina-mitchum-learning-design⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to my ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cut the Course Creation Crap Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Music credit: Alex Mitchum Alex, Catrina's youngest brother, was a jazz guitarist and his family established a scholarship in his name at his alma mater. Please consider donating: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.alexmitchum.com/scholarship⁠

  ListenShow Notes

Recent guests on Course Creation Crap: Learning Design for Business with Dr. Catrina Mitchum. Study who booked and why before you pitch.

Based on semantic analysis of episode topics and host coverage, this show is a strong guest fit for executives in:

Industry fit is computed by PitchCentric using vector embeddings of the show's episode catalog.