Here in the Seattle area, nearly all the local childbirth courses have been cancelled. I expect this will happen in all areas of the country. In response, many birth educators are moving their courses online. If you find yourself needing to switch to an online childbirth course, be careful where you choose to get that education! Just because someone put a course online, does not mean it will be an effective course. It takes more than just recording yourself teaching your class to make an effective and engaging course for online students.

I have had 8 years of experience teaching online and have taken training in creating engaging courses for adult learners online to make it a fun and memorable experience, because if it's not done well, you won't remember anything you learned in your course when you are in birth and you might feel like you wasted your time and money and it could effect one of the most important days of your life! I also have been using online education for my homeschool kids for 7 years, so I know a bit about what to look for in a good program!

A class that is intentionally made to be offered online is so much different that a class that someone scrambles to throw together, which I have learned the hard way in the past, losing time & money!

If you are looking for an online course, here a few things to ask your instructor:

• How long have you been teaching online?
  • Make sure they have done this before!
• What components are included in your course to help keep me on track?
  • Make sure they have engaging material and activities that you can do at home!
• How do you help students who are struggling with the material?
  • Make sure they have community support and access to the instructor!
• How many of your students complete your online course?
  • Make sure this is at 80% or more!

If you have questions about how to find a good course, reach out here with the chat feature or email us at info @ naturalbirthcompass.com! With all the uncertainty in the hospitals or if you decide to change to an out-of-hospital birth environment at the last minute, you might need a high quality birth course more than ever! Hugs to all the strong moms here, it's a scary time to be pregnant, but you got this!