Launch Your First Class - Step by Step

You've been approved to teach on Outschool. Welcome. What happens next isn't obvious — there's a real gap between "approved" and "first section running," and it's where most new educators get stuck.

This playbook walks you through every step, in order.

The 8 steps

1. Pick your topic
2. Choose your format
3. Design your class
4. Create your listing
5. Submit for approval
6. Schedule your first section
7. Prepare your classroom
8. Run your first class

Plan for 2–3 weeks from approval to first class if you're moving deliberately. Some educators list in a weekend. Taking your time is fine too.

Step 1: Pick your topic

Start with what you know deeply and what families are actively looking for. Overlap between those two is your sweet spot.

• Skim Trending Now and Topic Requests for gaps
• Check Is there a market for your class? for a demand-check framework
• Look at what's already listed in your subject and how full those classes are

Common misstep: designing a class around a topic you're excited to teach without checking whether anyone's searching for it. Passion matters, but demand is what turns a class into a business.

Step 2: Choose your format

Outschool supports four class formats. Each fits different educator styles and family needs.

• Live One-Time. A single meeting. Good for topical or seasonal content. Easiest format to iterate on.
• Live Ongoing. Recurring sessions with rolling enrollment. Best for skill-building where learners can drop in.
• Live Semester / Multi-Day. A set number of sessions run as a cohort. Good for structured curriculum.
• Self-Paced. Pre-recorded video and asynchronous materials. Higher upfront work; scales without your time. See Best-Practices for Self-Paced Classes.

Most new educators start with Live One-Time — shortest path to running your first class and generating the reviews you'll need to expand.

Step 3: Design your class

Before you write your listing, get clear on:

• Learning objective. What will a learner walk away able to do? Concrete beats vague. "Identify the parts of a plant cell" beats "Learn about biology."
• Age range. Narrow is usually better than wide. A range of 8–12 serves nobody well. Pick 8–10 or 11–13.
• Duration. 30 or 45 minutes for younger learners; 45–60 for older. Anything over 60 minutes for a one-off is a hard sell.
• Price. For your first class, price at or slightly below comparable listings. See 5 Strategies to Find That Sweet Spot When Pricing Classes.
• Materials. Keep it minimal for your first class — every material requirement is a reason a family might not book.

Step 4: Create your listing

Your listing has four elements that do the heavy lifting:

• Title. Lead with outcome or hook, not format. See Reach more learners by writing class listings for SEO.
• Marketing image. The single biggest driver of clicks. See How to Create a Great Marketing Image for Your Class.
• Summary. The 2–3 sentence pitch under your title. Answer: who is this for, and what will they learn?
• Description. The long-form pitch. Structure it as: what they'll learn → who this is for → what class feels like → materials → about you.

The full playbook: Guide to High-Performing Class Listings. Read this before you write.

Step 5: Submit for approval

Once your listing is complete, submit it. Reviews typically take a few business days. Common reasons a class gets held up:

• Missing or unclear learning objective
• Description promises content that isn't safe or age-appropriate for the listed range
• Marketing image contains copyrighted material or generic stock photos with watermarks

Fix and resubmit — approval rate on the second pass is very high.

Step 6: Schedule your first section

Once approved, you can schedule a section. Tips for your first:

• Look at Supply in Demand for day/time slots where demand outpaces supply in your subject and age range. Scheduling into an underserved slot dramatically improves fill rate.
• Give yourself 7–14 days of lead time so families can find and book. Same-week sections rarely fill for a new educator.
• Start with one section. Don't schedule five and stretch your first-time energy thin.

Step 7: Prepare your classroom

Outschool classes run on Zoom. Even if you're a Zoom pro, run through the basics:

• How to use Zoom: A getting started guide for educators
• Camera at eye level, well-lit, clear audio
• Test your screen share and any interactive tools you plan to use
• Have a backup plan if tech fails (a slides-only version of your class)

If you have props, materials, or slides, prepare them the day before — not the hour before.

Step 8: Run your first class

The morning of:

• Check your equipment 30 minutes before start
• Have a warm 2-minute intro ready — the first minutes set the tone
• Start on time; end 2–3 minutes early

‍After class:

• Send a thank-you message to families
• Ask for reviews (Outschool prompts them automatically, but a nudge helps)
• Schedule your next section right away — momentum matters

Where to get help

• Welcome to Outschool webinar — a live orientation for new educators the first Monday of every month. Find and register on the events calendar. Best for a top-to-bottom walkthrough with time for questions.
• Educator Pathways — you'll be in the Foundations pathway, designed exactly for this stage.
• Educator Mentor Cohort — an experienced educator can review your listing and answer questions live during office hours.
• Join our Slack community — post a question and get answers from peers, often within minutes.
• EDge Newsletter — sent every two weeks. Product updates, upcoming events, and the latest guidance land here first.
• Help Center — for platform questions (payments, scheduling, verification).

Next up

Once your first class runs, shift focus to Get Your First 10 Enrollments — the playbook for building the review base and demand signal that turns a single class into a real business.