Xebel Logo

๐Ÿ“ˆ Course Creators Weekly #33 ๐Ÿ—“ February 8th, 2021 - Why course completion rates are the wrong metric

This week, Ryan Gum talks about completion rates, Andrew Barry's all about student transformation, and we learn from Wes Kao about engaging Zoom lessons!

Why course completion rates are the wrong metric Why course completion rates are the wrong metric
๐Ÿฆ Twitter Thread ๐ŸŽ‰ Student Success

Why course completion rates are the wrong metric

Last week, I shared an article on designing courses for near-perfect completion rates. I also shared a caveat: not every course needs to be finished, not necessarily at least. Funnily enough, Ryan Gum posted a Twitter thread on this very topic, at around the same time I scheduled the newsletter! ๐Ÿ˜„

  • ๐ŸŽฏ
    Remember that students buy courses for the transformation, not for the information
  • ๐Ÿ“ˆ
    Treat completion rates as a "proxy metric"โ€”I'd say, a guide
  • ๐ŸŽ‰
    Focus your efforts on your students' success
  • ๐Ÿค™
    Talk to students throughout their journey to make sure they're getting results
๐Ÿ”— Ryan Gum via twitter.com
How To Create a Successful Online Course How To Create a Successful Online Course
๐ŸŽ™ Podcast ๐ŸŽ‰ Student Success

How To Create a Successful Online Course

  • ๐Ÿ†
    Make student transformation your central pillarโ€”build everything else around that
  • ๐Ÿ› 
    Design for learning by doing, together with othersโ€”that's how people learn best
  • ๐Ÿ‘‹
    Create intentional and meaningful human-to-human interactions
  • ๐Ÿ’ป
    You don't need fancy tools to create transformational courses at scale
  • ๐Ÿคฉ
    Teach something you're passionate aboutโ€”like any business, it's a lot of work
๐Ÿ”— Andrew Barry via spreaker.com
The State Change Method: How to deliver engaging live lectures on Zoom The State Change Method: How to deliver engaging live lectures on Zoom
โœ๏ธ Article ๐Ÿ‘‹ Engagement

The State Change Method: How to deliver engaging live lectures on Zoom

  • ๐Ÿ”€
    Switch things up every few minutesโ€”we've evolved to notice and react to changes
  • ๐Ÿ’ฌ
    Put students in breakout rooms for group discussions
  • ๐Ÿ—ฃ
    Ask questions, get students to post in the chat or unmute to speak
  • ๐Ÿคน๐Ÿผโ€โ™€๏ธ
    Learn to be an entertainer as much of an instructor, in equal parts
  • ๐ŸŽš
    Adapt your approach to the size of your cohortโ€”the dynamics are different
  • ๐ŸŽข
    Vary your pace/style: Fast and slow, loud and quiet
  • ๐Ÿ’ญ
    Don't just tellโ€”ask questions and lead students to answers
  • ๐Ÿ› 
    Create opportunities for students to meet and interact, e.g. discussions, projects
  • ๐ŸงŠ
    Ask simple ice breaker questions in the first 5โ€“10 minutes (e.g. last thing you ate?)
  • โฉ
    Split content into more slides to speed up the perceived pace of the lecture
๐Ÿ”— Wes Kao via weskao.com

Get this stuff weekly ๐Ÿ’Œ

3 articles, videos or podcasts with hours of insights from top creators, packed into a concise, digestible format, to help you build transformational courses! ๐Ÿš€

CCW is no longer published, but you can check out the past editionsโ€”see what you can dig up!

Read past editions

Hey, I'm Merott ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿป

I'm an indie maker and freelance web developer from London.

I'm building my own business, because I'm terrible at following other people, and because I want my work to matter. I hope it will, to you and to your students.

Making progress, slowly and steadily, I'm also documenting and tweeting my journey every Monday @merott .

Thanks for visiting!

Merott