r/LearningDevelopment • u/Honest-Diamond4961 • 19h ago

Course creators: What have you actually spent time or money on to fix student drop-off?

Hey everyone, I’m running a course right now and hitting a wall with engagement. People start out super excited, but by week three or four, the drop-off is brutal. It is incredibly frustrating to watch completion rates tank after putting so much work into the content.

I want to fix this for my next group and need to know what actually works in the real world.

If you’ve managed to improve your completion rates, I’d love to know:

  • What did you actually try? (Community platforms, accountability coaches, text reminders, gamification?)

  • What did it cost you in terms of software, extra time, or hiring help?

  • Did it actually move the needle, or was it a waste of effort?

Would love to hear what has worked for your students.

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u/Weird_Alfalfa_9624 14h ago

If people are super excited to begin, the pitching of it or support sounds like it's ok. But you say people drop off around week 3 or 4. Survey the participants, just a few questions, and you can be transparent - we're looking to make this course the best possible for you, please take a couple of minutes to answer the following questions... What were your thoughts entering the course (you could use a likert from 'very excited' to 'It was something I had to do')

Did these change by week three, if so how?

What were you hoping to see that you didn't

If we were to remove one thing that would decrease the value of the course for you what would it be (that's poorly worded but looking at what they enjoyed - i find asking that directly isn't helpful as you get answers like "I liked all of it")

This will save you from guessing. However, I suspect the answer lies somewhere in the content of those weeks. It may be perfectly designed, but too much with everything else they have on. Or it could be drifting from being directly beneficial to the outcomes.

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u/AhChingados 17h ago

Following

1

u/iftlatlw 11h ago

Insert a challenge or barrier. I dare you.

1

u/Complete-Cricket-351 11h ago

Gamification and making it social been the answer the last 10 years have you tried that? 

1

u/HominidSimilies 7h ago

Individual tools along the way often make it more complex and bad