How to Create Great

Educational Announcements

Educational Announcements can be used to reignite engagement in your course. Did

you recently find an interesting article about your course’s subject matter? Or maybe
you want to let students know about the new lecture you’ve added? Crafting and
distributing a great Educational Announcement could help you activate the student
base and regain their interest!

Here are some things instructors do to create great Educational Announcements that
drive engagement within their course:

Include a contest or call to action and challenge students to finish certain lectures
or sections of the course.
Inspire your students with news from the field and keep them engaged on the
subject matter.
Let students know when you’ve updated or added content. Your investment in the
course will grab their attention!
Remember, educational announcements are meant to activate and re-engage your
students and bring them back to your course. Don't direct students to promotional
material, on or off-site. That’s a violation of our policies.

Instructors who send out useful Educational Announcements can see a significant
increase in the number of students engaging with your content, (like Seth: as much
as an 86% increase in students consuming his content). See below for examples of
people who have done this well.

Warm Welcomes
A few days after Seth launched his course, he sent out an inspiring announcement
that boosted visits to his course page by 86%! Check it out:

Send this type of announcement shortly after your course launches or after any large
waves of enrollments. Here’s the recipe for success:

Craft a strong introduction:

“Welcome to the course that will…”
...change your life with the power of your keyboard!
...give you the tools to build your confidence and start your own business!
...(enter your specific mission here!)

Offer advice for getting started:

Advise students to take the course with a friend or Udemy colleague, post on the
discussion board, ask questions, stay involved, and keep learning.
Let students know that you and their classmates are there to help and support each
other!

(optional) Link to free resources:

You can provide free resources within your supplemental materials sections of your
lectures, or you can let your students know about updates in the field continuously
by linking to an article or blog post
Remember, if you’re going to use external resources, don’t link to paid content,
“squeeze pages,” or other non-educational material. Educational Announcements
should not be used for promotional purposes.

Inspiration!
Seth Godin’s “Go make a ruckus” echoed through his course. Motivate students with
your own words of wisdom!

Contests
Having trouble with engagement? You may want to try a contest to incentivize course
completion. Sometimes students need an extra push to get them to the end of the
course! Check out how Silviu holds his contests:

HERE’S HOW YOU CAN HOLD A SUCCESSFUL CONTEST WITHIN POLICY:

Offer a prize to one lucky winner or up to five students

Reassure students that you do not collect their personal information, and ensure
that you can deliver the prize through an alternate safe channel if needed.
Have one or more measures of participation such course completion, questions, or
discussion posts. Make sure that leaving a review is NOT part of the criteria as that
would be considered against policies by exchanging reviews for goods or services.

News From The Field

Gregory Caremans sends short but useful Educational Announcements to let
students know about the neuroscience and behavior articles that he’s found:

Above, Gregory has linked to an article in “Psychology Today,” gaining insightful

comments from students. We’re sure that you keep in touch with news in your topic
area, so feel free to share the knowledge with your students! Again, it must be free,
accessible, and educational. Try The New York Times, WIRED, BBC, or any public
website about your course’s subject matter.

Updates And Revamped Content

Adding new content (or replacing old content with something better) shows students
that you’re invested in the course and their learning experience. Take a look at Tim
Buchalka’s announcement. These announcements receive lots of comments and
generate more discussion posts from students (Tim consistently has over 100
student posts per month). If you’re engaged with the course, the students will often
return the favor!

The recipe for this one is simple: Upload new material, write the announcement, and
be open to feedback and suggestions!

Don’t Do This
Some people like to learn from counterexamples, so here’s a very bad
announcement that you should NOT replicate!