I have received good advice on this forum before regarding starting a Facebook Group or website to support students. I would prefer a small / serious group versus lots of uninterested / uncommitted people. My thought is not only to have a "closed" group, but to limit it to people who COMPLETED the course. (For example, The automatic message sent at course completion would have a password to get into the website.) Any thoughts on this?
Author:
@RichardDeut752
Hey @RichardDeut752
I have an FB Group that any of my students can request entry to whether they have completed the course or not. I think the stats say that only around 10% of people actually complete courses so you are limiting your reach if you go that way, in my humble opinion.
What you have to remember about a website is that you are not allowed to send students to a link / page that requires email address, password etc. From that perspective a Facebook group works better.
I hope that helps
Hi @RichardDeut752
I think you need to have a clear view of what you are trying to achieve with your small serious closed group. Is it just for chatting or will you want to use the group to promote. What's the long term plan for the group? I have a small, non serious, non promotional facebook group and also a website. Generally with most groups the problem is "how to get people to interact?". 10% of my students have joined the Facebook group I have and it was open to any student joining the course. The people in the group won't have your sense of purpose for the group so you will either need a superfan or 2 to create interaction.
I would not limit it to just students who complete the course as many end up not completing the course. I use my exclusive student Facebook group for students only, but their only requirement is to purchase a course and answer three questions.
This gives them a safe and open community to post student projects, but also personal ones. We also discuss things like freelancing. I kept it small, but it is now over 2,500 but still manageable, and they are paying students, or have bought a course in the past.
I also post when new resources or lessons are added to the class and also run a monthly live stream where I review student work and give design challenges to them (graphic design is what I teach mostly)
I have seen in several of my reviews where my student Facebook group comes up as a big benefit to the class. I see it as an extension of my class.
I would make it a closed group and have 3 questions they have to answer to get in.
There are people who lie and say they are a student, and you do not want to have to double check enrollment of reach student either. So, I ask them which class they are a part of (I have 14) and what are they most interested in getting out of the group, and a third one that is more detailed of a question.
These questions naturally turn away anyone who is not serious about being active in the group or someone who is lying about being a student.
It takes extra effort to run the group, and some moderation time required (I also required approval from for for each post) but it is well worth the effort.
I did open group with I assume some uncommited students, that being said it still drive a good deal of paying students who are interested in my topics, but has no clue about Udemy.
I use the group to support current students, get new students, and give free content to anyone who is interested in the topic.
Not all members has to be students, they may do it on their own, but down the line recommend me to others who will be come students.
I also have a website with a lot of resources, my own udemy course links, and my own course hosting.