Do you have any tips to design courses for higher completion rate?

MarinaT

Hey instructors,

Course completion is a key metric we track at Udemy, as it often correlates with student satisfaction and learning outcomes. Our data shows significant variation in completion rates across courses, even within the same topic areas. The difference often comes down to specific design elements that keep students engaged throughout their learning journey.

Do you have any tips to design courses for higher completion rate?

Share your experiences and success stories in the comments section below!

ChrisBankes120

1. Make the course short - such as 21 minutes.

2. Award an extra 'Diploma' (especially if 'Internationally Accredited') only on completion (or apparent completion) of the course

3. Award a Diploma of Achievement - only available if there are many posts in Q/A, manuals and workbooks completed etc etc

4. Update content on a regular basis and ensure students know by posting details in the Educational Announcemets

5. Add lectures…maybe. Replace lectures…

6.Set homework with 'answers' to be 'announced at a later date in a catch-up lecture'

7. Include quizzes etc

8. Give progress milestones - maybe in a lecture. "Congrats your have done 50% of the course. That means you have achieved the following…."

9. Give details of student successes. For example, I created artbooks showing the artwork of previous students who'd completed, sometimes videos and interviews, sometimes links to their books on Amazon

10. if they've been absent for a while, message to check all OK

11. if they're near completion, message to remind them 'only a bit to go' - also reminds them to review

12. remind students to go slowly, lifetime access but regular watching/doing beats binge-watching

13. In educational announcements announce names of students who've completed that week/month together with their Diploma. Maybe also 'congratulate' students who've done the 80 hour course in 5 minutes.

14. Identify lectures where drop-off rate is highest and modify/improve/delete

15. Always foster interaction, networking etc.

(I have some courses with 5,000+ posts in the Q/A - to my mind the Q/A is often more important than the lectures - certainly more up to date!)