Udemy

ChrisBankes120 · ‎08-17-2023

1. Be very very clear in your mind as to why you're creating the course. Maybe you're fascinated by the subject. Maybe you just love filming and teaching. Maybe it's a good way to get tax relief. (Some of my courses are filmed on cruises.) Maybe it's primarily to make money. Maybe it's to fill a perceived gap. Maybe it's to educate. Maybe it's to change lives/save lives. Of course, ideally it is everything. 2. Be very clear why students are enrolling in your course. I have nearly 200,000 students and about 82% have never ever looked at anything on the course. (They're not all free coupons either!) So why did they enrol? Probably the word 'sale'. Maybe the course description. Maybe something they intended to do later. Equally I have some students who do a 50 hour course in one hour. They enrolled to a) copy and resell b) get the Completion Certificate and the 'internationally accredited whatever'. For these last two categories the actual content is not so important. More important is the course title (as that is on the Completion Certificate - I changed a course title from 'Business Studies' to MBA and sales rose. No other changes.) Sometimes students enrol because they want a short easy course where they can print their own certificate and feel they've 'achieved'. Others want a long course they can really really get into. Some want a highly active Q/A. Others have no intention of posting anything. So try and ascertain why students are enrolling. 3. Be clear about how much time you have now and in the future for your course(s). I have a 120 hour course; but I also have a one hour course. The one hour course took 5 hours from idea to launch. The 120 hour course...well....it just grew and grew. How much time you're willing to spend will be affected by your answer to (1).

ChrisBankes120 · ‎02-03-2023

Firstly you have to consider WHY a stuent enrols in your course in the first place. Here are possible reasons: 1. They enrol to watch in 10 minutes and get a Completion Certificate and the course makes them a QUALIFIED Art Therapist or Child Psychologist etc and then they can - after 10 minutes - put the Certificate on the wall and practice 2. They enrol because of the name of the course 'Sale!' 3. They enrol because they like your courses 4. They enrol because the course looks interesting 5. They enrol to download and sell 6. They enrol as it is free and then they sell 500 courses for £50 to someone 7. They enrol because they're a competitor 8. They enrol because they're a friend of yours There may be other reasons... OK now for reviews. They leave a review because... 1. They're prompted to by udemy and so they 'might as well' 2. They're reminded/asked to by you 3. They think you deserve praise for your hard work 4. They think the course is fantastic 5. They think the course is rubbish and wish to tell the world 6. They want to trash your course as revenge for you not BUYING reviews 7. They want to trash the course because they don't like you 8. They want to trash your course because you deleted their rude post in Q/A 9. They want to trash your course because they're a competitor 10. They want to trash your course because...well you add on your bit. So there are many reasons. To give you examples of two fairly recent reviews: 1. The student could not understand how to access her inbox or post in Q/A or get a refund from Udemy 2. The student decided I was anti-American and was openly brainwashing thousands of captive students In neither case could I get the reviews removed . The second one (year on year for that particular course) lead tob$1500 lost sales as my average went down (too few recent reviews) I lost best Seller badge and then Udemy reduced their promotion as review went from 4.3 to 3.9. It's expensive this! Some people sell reviews too. In 2019 I gave the course details with the fake reviews, the correspondence from the seller and which reviews the seller wrote, to Udemy Safety. The course is still there.

ChrisBankes120 · ‎02-03-2023

On the topic of paid reviews, in 2019 I sent Udemy: 1. The correspondence with someone offering paid reviews 2. The course where the Instructor had paid for the reviews 3. The reviews he had paid for - allegedly The course is still there, happily selling. I notice in the Q/A for that courses, posts have gone unanswered for 3 years. But no matter, I mean if you're paying for 5 star reviews and getting away with it, what else do you need to do? It is this sort of thing that does Udemy harm

ChrisBankes120 · ‎05-06-2022

I would never buy reviews or even ask as a favour for bulk...open yourself to getting banned and also blackmailed. BUT it is also easy for them to put up fake reviews that are 1 star. For example, I had a long 1 star review that heavily criticised my very poor Powerpoint slides. In vain did I protest that I never use powerpoint!

ChrisBankes120 · ‎05-06-2022

Interesting I was reading yesterday about reviews and their importance (see above). Today I received - unsolicited - two messages (Messenger and whatsapp plus one video call, not answered) from people offering me 1,000 reviews: Hello. I am here to help you get thousands of reviews and I can help you get thousands of active students and I will use the reviews to rank your course to the first page or I can help you promote your course to 100K active students' The second message was a similar text. I don't really trust reviews. There's a 30 day money back guarantee (subject to conditions) so that should be good enough! Having said that I looked at one of my best selling courses just now. Of the last 100 students who enrolled over the past 2-3 weeks: 85 had yet to start 14 had done 5% or less of the course 1 did the entire 80 hour course in... a day

ChrisBankes120 · ‎05-05-2022

It's fine to say 'if people get what they want out of the experience' but often what they want is not what they REALLY get ...let me explain. I am deliberately keeping this vague so no-one takes offence: Two courses: Course A - 45 minutes Course B - 2 Instructors, 10 workbooks and 64 hours. Course A is the Best Seller because in 45 minutes students get their completion certificate and also feel they have 'dome something. OK another example: Course A : 1 hour and you become a 'qualified XYZ' Course B: 86 hours - same topic - and with transparent honesty, the Instructor says repeatedly that this will NOT make you a 'qualified XYZ'. Course A sells well - for the obvious reason. It's difficult to know what to do EXCEPT 'if you can't beat 'em...' and produce much much shorter courses (less VFM) promise something that is not widely true ...and keep 'em happy.

ChrisBankes120 · ‎03-20-2022

I’ve launched two standalone courses where all the revenue for ever will go to Ukraine. on every other course I’ve put a one hour ( optional) intro about giving to Ukraine etc Plus as mentioned, all revenue on everything going to Ukraine for rest of March. This will provide a trickle. As about 92% of those enrolled never even start the course it probably won’t lead to extra donations but at least the idea is there.

ChrisBankes120 · ‎03-20-2022

@Bella are we allowed to cross-promote as it for charity?

ChrisBankes120 · ‎03-17-2022

I simply link up to a charity, get them to say a bit on the course, give all the revenue I receive (as Udemy won't waive their cut) and show what is being done with the money by means of updated lectures.

ChrisBankes120 · ‎03-15-2022

I did ask Udemy if they’d waive their portion of the revenue and/or match my donation. My request was escalated and the response was as you have posted above.

ChrisBankes120 · ‎03-13-2022

I am giving 100% of my course revenue to Ukraine and I have asked Udemy to match this.

ChrisBankes120 · ‎03-13-2022

I am giving 100% of my revenue to Ukraine and I have asked Udemy to match this

ChrisBankes120 · ‎11-18-2021

I'm happy to help...

ChrisBankes120 · ‎11-12-2021

I've had a reply about the blog - this may be useful to everyone: "Thank you for your interest in participating in the Udemy Blog Contributors Program! We are currently not creating content that would be a match for your course portfolio, but we will keep your profile in mind should we expand our content needs." My course portfolio includes courses on: Leadership Management Business Economics Scriptwriting Death, Grief and Healing Art Therapy Positive psychology Fitness General health Strokes/heart attacks Stress management Global economics Sociology Politics

ChrisBankes120 · ‎10-29-2021

All fine - thank you!

ChrisBankes120 · ‎10-29-2021

I sent in an application several weeks ago. no reply

ChrisBankes120 · ‎07-02-2021

Paid reviews: defamatory; listed in poor student behaviour: allowed numerous posting of 1 star: allowed ” worthless” disallowed Paid reviews is a much more serious accusation but allowed

ChrisBankes120 · ‎07-02-2021

The review was finally taken down. This is the SIXTH VERSION in three days. Ok guess why it was taken down - one reason only…

ChrisBankes120 · ‎07-01-2021

So these policies are not violated: LINK

ChrisBankes120 · ‎06-30-2021

The latest review states: "Awful, Just Awful A complete waste of time of 7 hours and money. This (worthless) instructor is here just for reviews and money and it and any gives him 1 star review he starts making fake allegation about the student and showcase himself as he done the right thing. A majority of reviews in this lectures are paid reviews. He deserves a negative 5 and be banned from udemy."

ChrisBankes120 · ‎06-30-2021

I also wrote to T&S about recent PUBLISHED reviews: " It seems to me to be OK to: 1. Give a 1 star review and then repeat it and repeat it and repeat it so it always looks current 2. It seems OK to blatantly lie about a course. Example: a 64 hour course called Economics where the first 30 minutes are Economics English - a reviewer said the entire course was mostly learning English. 3. It seems OK for someone to give a 5 star review, message the Instructor asking for the Diploma (which requires that he does loads of homework) When it is apparent that he has done NO homework then the review - only hours old - is changed to 1 star Please confirm that all three - bearing in mind Udemy policy to bring an authenticity to the marketplace - honest reviews etc - are OK." Their response? "Unfortunately, we were not able to confirm some of your findings. Please also note that per our policies, Udemy is unable to mediate factual disputes or determine what is true or false in cases like this. Because of this, I would recommend that you use the review response so that you can communicate with your students and ask them what changes they'd like to see to improve their learning experience. This is also a good opportunity to show your prospective and current enrolled students how you handle their concerns. In this case, the reported reviews will remain published as they do not violate our current policies. Therefore, we consider this matter closed."

ChrisBankes120 · ‎06-30-2021

@Bella Oh it gets a lot worse (he updates the review every few hours to delete my response) First I am going to post what T&S safety responded: This is what I wrote to T&S: But first you are therefore confirming that a person can leave a 1 star review then update it (with no further watching of lecture) to make it more current and then again and again and again. This does not seem to bring authenticity to the marketplace as by its nature the 'updated' review is not on any new experience and is merely done to annoy the Instructor and mislead the students not enrolled. This is dishonest. OK my next question. I am sending three attachments. Please look at them carefully and you will see that this is a clear case of a student lying to cause harm to the Instructor. The first review is a 4.5 stars. The students loved the course. Then the student said he had done ALL the homework (except essay) and wanted the Diploma. Then it became apparent that NONE of the homework had been done - the student was asked where the homework was. The student then - hours later - changed the rating to ONE star and said the course description was inaccurate, the Instructor was rubbish etc. This is blatantly dishonest. I enclose the screenshot and ask that you look at how the rating changed in a matter of hours. It is clear I am saying his repeated reviews delete MY response. T&S replied: "Thanks for bringing this to our attention. We appreciate how this has been a frustrating experience for you. Please note that we have a system that scans all student ratings and reviews. I can catch when a student is clearly going against our rules or playing with our system. We took a closer look at the review, we were not able to find any abuse in our review guidelines. Because of this, the reported review will remain published as it does not violate our current policies. Also, you mentioned that you deleted your response to the review. We always recommend instructors utilize the review response feature to address concerns like these. In this way you can not only engage the student who left the review, but you also can show other students how you handle their concerns. "

ChrisBankes120 · ‎06-30-2021

@Bella I did try and dispute but apparently repeat posting of 1 star reviews (and thus by repeating this deletes the Instructor's comment) does not breach guidelines. He has reposted today too. So four ratings in 4 days: one 4.5 star, then the request for diploma, then three 1-stars. Correction/Update: Updated the review again to: "A complete waste of time of 7 hours and money. This instructor is here just for reviews and money and it and any gives him 1 star review he starts making fake allegation about the student and showcase himself as he done the right thing. He deserves a negative 5 and be banned from udemy."

ChrisBankes120 · ‎06-29-2021

Sure - I agree. It's a pity though.

ChrisBankes120 · ‎06-29-2021

@Bella I know student satisfaction is paramount and quite rightly so. Here is a cautionary tale. Many if my courses include a Diploma of Achievement. This just states what a student has done etc. It is free. To get this you have to have done the workbooks and involved yourself in discussions. Some courses also involve writing a short essay. A student gave me a 4.5 star review… So a good course and very happy. He also wanted the Diploma. It turned out he had been involved in NO discussions and done none of the exercises in the workbook. He was asked where all the homework was. His response a few hours later…

ChrisBankes120 · ‎06-29-2021

I guess no-one has…

ChrisBankes120 · ‎06-11-2021

My point 3 was never answered. So if EVERYONE leaves 5 star that does not mean your average rating is 5 star

ChrisBankes120 · ‎01-09-2021

I thought I knew how Udemy for Business worked but apparently not. I thought you had to have an established course, good reviews etc. Late last year I saw a course launched by an Instructor. 15 enrolled. No reviews. The Instructor had no previous courses. The course was accepted/enrolled with Udemy Business. I asked Udemy whether their criteria had changed but, three weeks later, no reply. Can anyone tell me whether the criteria has changed please?

ChrisBankes120 · ‎12-03-2020

8 days have gone by and no response. @MariaG have you any idea?

ChrisBankes120 · ‎12-01-2020

@MariaG Maria I have never relied on other Instructors. Please see my message. My concern was that a) I do not get an answer to my question about text and b) a far more 'texted' version was accepted for one of my courses a few weeks ago. I simply do not understand....and no-one answers. You say T&S will follow up as soon as possible. As I have posted before a year after T&S being told about sales of fake reviews the reviews are still there. But that's not so much the point. Why was my image refused with the comment about text and yet a previous one rejected and also why was a later email received saying ti wasn't about text! Thank you chris

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