Nudge students who have stopped working through my course
Most students who stop do not decide to stop. They get busy, and a week becomes a month. A short, kind email at the right moment brings many of them back.
The prompt
“In my [course name] emails, send a friendly nudge to any student who has made no progress for [number] days, and another if they still have not opened the course after [number] days.”
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Two ways to notice a quiet student. You choose, for each email:
- No progress for a number of days: no lesson finished and no quiz passed.
- Not opened the course for a number of days: they have not been back to the course pages at all.
The count starts from the last thing they did, or from the day they enrolled if they have done nothing yet.
When it goes. bernard checks once a day, early in the morning. A student who has gone quiet gets the email at 9am UK time that day, or a number of days later if you prefer.
Each nudge goes once. A student who goes quiet, comes back and goes quiet again does not get the same nudge twice. If you want a second nudge, add a second email with a longer wait, for example one at 14 days and another at 21 days.
Who never gets one. A student who has finished the course, and a student whose emails are paused (Pause the automatic emails for one student). A skip rule can leave out anyone else (Stop a course email going to a student it no longer fits).
Students already on the course. When you approve these emails, bernard tells you how many students are on the course now. They get the gone-quiet emails only if you choose “include current students”. bernard only started noting course visits recently, so for a current student the “not opened the course” count starts when you switch the emails on.
How to set it up: ask Bernard to “nudge students on [course name] who have gone quiet for two weeks”. It writes the email in your voice and shows you the plan. Nothing sends until you approve it and switch it on. These nudges sit inside your course emails (Email my students when they reach each point in my course).
Questions people ask
- What counts as gone quiet?
- You choose one of two: no progress (no lesson finished and no quiz passed) for a number of days, or not opening the course for a number of days. The count starts from the last thing they did, or from when they enrolled.
- How often does bernard check?
- Once a day, early in the morning. A student who has gone quiet gets the email at 9am UK time that day, or a number of days later if you ask for that.
- Will a student get the same nudge again if they go quiet twice?
- No. Each nudge goes to each student once. For a second nudge, add a second email with a longer wait, for example one at 14 days and one at 21 days.
- Do students who are already on the course get these?
- Only if you say so when you approve the emails and switch them on: choose “include current students”. Otherwise only students who enrol from then on get them.
- Does a student who finished the course get a nudge?
- No. A student who has finished the course never gets a gone-quiet email, and a student whose emails are paused gets nothing until you resume them.