Creating a course without a voice

[StanciuI902]

Hello!

Is it possible to create a course without using my voice, but background music and a presentation in which I will point out every single step which needs to be done? 

The course is about Stable Diffusion.

Thank you for answering and have a wonderful day!

[HofmeyrdeVo128 · Accepted solution]

Personally I do not think this is a good idea...maybe put your course in e-book format and sell it like that? 

[MichaelPog]

I'm not aware of any rules against it but would you pay for a course like that yourself?

[StanciuI902]

If it is really well explained, yes.

[AHardin]

I'd email instructorsupport@udemy.com to confirm whether that's allowed or not. I don't see anything that states specifically that you can't do this, but it may be implied, and it would be best to ask Instructor Support to confirm.

With that said, that's not an ideal way to create a course. As both an instructor and a student that's purchased a lot of Udemy courses over the past 7+ years, I'd personally never pay for a course with just background music and text instructions overlayed on the screen. If a student has the choice between an instructor talking and walking them through a topic vs. text overlay, odds are they'll always choose the first option. And from my experience, students also aren't fans of background music; I've gotten complaints when using background music in the past.

[StanciuI902]

Thank you! I will take into consideration what you just said.

[Robert_Hean]

Heya @StanciuI902  - (assuming it's not against any policies) - I could see it working, however, personally I appreciate hearing someone (even if it's machine generated) talk through content. This also makes it possible to listen while running/biking/etc. allowing me to learn more easily on the go.

I would be curious to see if it's possible and how it turns out though. 

I am curious - is there a specific reason you are choosing not to include audio?

[MichaelPog]

I may sound a bit harsh, but I feel like it's a loophole to the rule that a course should have at least 30 minutes of video.

I want to be very clear.

I think there's much value in text-based courses if they explain the content well.

I'm taking one myself at the moment (not on Udemy), and that course is much better than many video courses I took on Udemy on similar topics.

However!

Udemy is a video platform.

If you, the student, come to Udemy, you expect to see a video course with an instructor talking to you directly on or off camera.

If, instead, you get a video with scrolling text, you will feel annoyed and disappointed.

That's how I feel when I land on a YouTube video with either an AI-generated voice or just music with some text on the screen.

So in the best case, you'll find out that nobody buys your courses, or buys it, gets annoyed, leaves a 1 star, and takes a refund.

In the worst case, it will be flagged during the review.

I also feel like this should be banned by Udemy. There are tools now that generate slide decks with prepopulated text from ChatGPT. It sounds like this loophole can be exploited with a ton of garbage content. (not saying that's what you are planning)

[StanciuI902]

Yes, it is true what you said about ChatGPT, but I never even thought about using it for my work. It should be a handwritten course.

Thank you for leaving your opinions!

I will see if I find a speaker for hire.

[Robert_Hean]

Heya @StanciuI902  - I may be able to help you out - shoot me a DM if you're looking for a voice

[StanciuI902]

I do not find any option to send a DM.

[Robert_Hean]

ah, interesting... unsure the best way to connect but I've done voice work in the past and would be happy to see if we can work something out for your course.  If you're interested please email me at udemyinstructor123@gmail.com.

[HofmeyrdeVo128 · Accepted solution]

Personally I do not think this is a good idea...maybe put your course in e-book format and sell it like that? 

[StanciuI902]

I think that this might be the best idea. Thank you!

[Leonor C. · Accepted solution]

Hello @StanciuI902 

Happy to clear out somethings that are being said in the thread. It is againstt Udemy regulations to use AI generated voice and you cannot publish a course without any voice on it, all lectures MUST contain a human voice on them, if not, they will not pass the Quality Review Process and your course will not be published. That said, you can use a human third party voice on your courses (paid or not) although you will be asked to state that it is your course for the Trust and Safety team if you have a voice mismatch, but this is a simple process.

Hope I helped out by clarifying some Udemy regulations and gave you clarity.

Kindest regards,

Leonor

Udemy Community team

[FaizanS]

Hi,

Very informative comment.

You wrote "although you will be asked to state that it is your course for the Trust and Safety team if you have a voice mismatch".

So, does that mean that i can hire a female voice artist if i am a male or do i need to hire a male artist only whose voice match with my own?

[Leonor C.]

Hello @FaizanS 

Happy to help! Yes, you can hire a female or a male voice and as per new Trist and Safety guidelines from last week, you can now use Test-to-Speech and AI voices in your courses. 

Hope this helped!

Kindest regards,

Leonor

Udemy moderation team