Losing Motivation

RonErez
RonErez Posts: 115 storyteller rank
in First-time course creation

Hi Everyone,

Lately I've been putting so much effort into my course as far as expanding it and rerecording lectures due to student requests that I zoom in less.

I started out with amazing reviews and now I'm getting more and more bad reviews. I was at 5 then dropped a little and now I'm at 4.0.

Also I encourage students to ask me questions in the Q&A. Doesn't help.

A student complained that I don't cover enough basics. But this is part of the course description. (I do cover basics briefly and then dive into real-world apps - the course description explicitly states that the course is not an encyclopedic introduction to Swift and that we only briefly cover the language before diving into examples.)

I'm so mad I don't even feel like eating Hummus write now.

The upside is despite the bad reviews today I'm ranked number one on Udemy but just a few days ago I suddenly disappeared to page 3 when searching for my course topic.

Sorry for the rant and Happy Teaching !

Ron

Comments

  • MarinaT
    MarinaT Posts: 2,013 Udemy rank

    Hi @RonErez
    ,

    I'm so sorry to hear you were feeling down, and I hope you are doing better by now!

    We greatly appreciate the effort and dedication you put into creating and delivering an exceptional course to your students. We understand that receiving negative reviews can be disheartening and may make you question your teaching abilities. However, please do not to lose hope!

    It's important to remember that many experienced instructors have faced similar situations when they received unfavorable feedback. But instead of giving up, they persevered.

    When analyzing the reviews, take a moment to consider if there are any areas where you can improve your course. If so, we encourage you to update your course promptly. Additionally, it's crucial to respond to reviews consistently, showcasing your concern for your learners' opinions. This will demonstrate to potential students that you value their feedback.

    In the event that you feel any reviews violate our review policy, please don't hesitate to contact our Policy team at policy@udemy.com. They will thoroughly investigate the matter.

    P.S. To uplift your spirits, I'd love to share this thread with you. It's a collection of instructors sharing the funniest bad reviews they have received .

    Keep going!

  • RandyMinder
    RandyMinder Posts: 670 visionary rank

    Hi @RonErez
    - I wouldn't feel too bad. I think this is pretty common. At least it has been with me. I had one course that was consistently rated around 4.7 and then, over the course of a month or so, dropped to 4.1 or so and now it's back to 4.5 - 4.7. Students can be VERY fickle when it comes to giving ratings. It's not uncommon for me to get a 5.0 and the next person might give a 3.0. And since most students never leave a review (and Udemy doesn't require the student to do so) you never really know what a student likes or doesn't like.

    @MarinaT
    - How do you expect instructors to work on improving their courses when maybe one out of every 50-75 students actually leaves a useful review and Udemy doesn't require them to do so? Udemy could at least require the student to leave a review if the rating is below 3 or 3.5. Otherwise, how do we know what the student didn't like? Yes we could message them but students rarely respond to messages.

  • RonErez
    RonErez Posts: 115 storyteller rank

    Thanks for the response.

    I do not question my teaching abilities. I know I'm amazing.

    I will and do analyze the reviews. I respond to every student without exception.

    I'm on Udemy because I enjoy course creation but also because it must be financially profitable. If such reviews damage my course and I see that Udemy is not financially viable then I won't persevere.

    I'm giving Udemy a chance and so far it's been a very positive experience.

    Definitely the amount of hours I put into my course has not payed back. We'll see how things are in a couple of years if it was worthwhile.

    I do appreciate the response.

    Thanks

  • RonErez
    RonErez Posts: 115 storyteller rank

    Hi @RandyMinder
    .

    Thanks, indeed I shouldn't take it to heart.

    I also have a hard time asking students for reviews.

    For instance a student contacted me via Reddit and had very kind things to say about my teaching, etc. I should have told him to leave a review. In general I feel uncomfortable putting pressure on students to leave reviews.

    It's just odd that lately I've received quite a lot of bad reviews although I constantly update and revise my course and answer the Q&A like there is no tomorrow.

    As you said maybe the reviews will get better over time.

    As you mentioned in your response to @MarinaT
    I do message every student and so far no one has responded accept for one student.

    Thanks for

  • Robert_Hean
    Robert_Hean Posts: 92 storyteller rank

    I'll +1 the responding to messages... I've reached out to multiple students and never received any response. I'll keep it up, but I'm not expecting anything

  • Robert_Hean
    Robert_Hean Posts: 92 storyteller rank

    Hey @RonErez
    - I'm sorry to hear it's demotivating!

    Personally I got hit with a review that compared my course to a sandwich without any filling (ouch). it hurt... but I used it to motivate me to figure out what other content I could add... I didn't really have any feedback on what was missing, so I went through my script to try and figure out areas to expand.

    It could be you could benefit from adding a "basics" section - at least that way you can point folks to it, and it also may hook more folks if they're put off by the more advanced content.

    I hope you stick with it - I know we've all taken our lumps, but I still find this a rewarding place to put my energy.

Categories