How to Create an Online Course in Less Than 10 Minutes with AI
A step-by-step guide to transforming any video into a complete microlearning course using artificial intelligence. No scriptwriting, no manual editing — AI handles titles, descriptions, chapters, and quizzes automatically.
Marina Costa
The biggest bottleneck in course creation has never been the knowledge. It's the production. Scriptwriting, title optimization, chapter structuring, quiz creation — each step adds hours to a process that should be fast.
AI has changed this calculation dramatically. Here's the actual workflow.
Step 1: Record or Upload Your Video (2 minutes)
The starting point is any video where you explain something you know. It doesn't need to be professionally produced. A smartphone recording in good lighting works perfectly. The AI doesn't evaluate production quality — it extracts knowledge.
Ideal length: 5 to 15 minutes. Long enough to cover a concept thoroughly, short enough to maintain learner attention.
Step 2: AI Generates Course Structure (1 minute)
Once uploaded, AI analyzes your video's content and automatically generates:
- Title: Optimized for search and clarity ("How to [specific outcome]" format)
- Description: What learners will achieve, written for both humans and search engines
- Chapter breakdown: Natural division points based on topic transitions in your narration
- Tags and keywords: Metadata for discoverability
Step 3: Transcription and Subtitle Generation (automatic)
AI transcribes your audio with high accuracy, generating subtitles in multiple languages simultaneously. For an English-language course targeting a global audience, this step alone would previously take hours of manual work or significant outsourcing costs.
Step 4: Quiz Generation (automatic)
Based on the transcription, AI identifies key concepts and generates multiple-choice questions to test comprehension. These aren't generic questions — they're derived from the specific claims and information in your video.
You review and edit. The AI handles the first draft.
Step 5: Publish (2 minutes)
Set your price, configure access (subscription, one-time purchase, or free), and publish. Your course is live and discoverable.
The Real Time Saving
Traditional course production timeline for a single module:
- Script writing: 2-3 hours
- Recording and editing: 1-2 hours
- Title/description writing: 30 minutes
- Quiz creation: 45 minutes
- Total: 4-6 hours per module
With AI assistance: Under 15 minutes per module, with better SEO optimization than most creators achieve manually.
What AI Can't Replace
The knowledge, experience, and perspective you bring can't be generated. AI is the production tool — you are the knowledge source. This is why subject matter experts now have a significant advantage: the production barrier that kept them from competing with polished content creators has been eliminated.