NEW Dripping Course Content Characteristics in Courses

Aug 30, 2024

Reader Disclosure

Over the past few weeks, we've rolled out some exciting new features to enhance your online course. efficient and manageable.

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From innovative Assignments to a super organized Gradebook, we've been hard working on the necessary tools for a truly memorable learning experience.

The first day jitters have passed and you're students are beginning to get settled and settle in, you can now focus on your primary homework. We've just the feature to help keep things running smoothly and on schedule.

This is the most recent update for Courses: built-in content dripping!

As with a carefully planned plan, our latest drip feature for course content ensures that your students get their education precisely when they need them at the exact time they need the lessons.

Do not overwhelm students with too much information at once or letting them run ahead. With dripping, you can present your material in manageable chunks and keep your students interested and looking forward to the next chapter.

This new feature will continue to grow with the needs of your students, making it easier than ever before to organize and manage the content of your online courses.

What exactly is Course Content Dripping?

Everyone has had those times... in which you've watched a whole television show in just one weekend, then staying up all night turning the pages of a novel, or waking up to realize that you've ate through a complete sleeve of biscuits... entirely on your own ().

While indulging in something enjoyable can be satisfying initially, it often leaves us feeling unfulfilled afterward.

Learning can be the same way. When students take in excessive amounts of information at once It can cause:

  • anxiety: Worrying they missed something important or made mistakes.
  • Remorse: Wishing they had spent more time taking the time to understand the material.
  • Doubts: Questioning if they actually comprehended the information.
  • Overwhelm: Overloaded by all the information you need at one time.

This isn't the type of feeling you would like your students to have after completing your course.

 That's where the course Dripping of content comes into play!

Instead of giving students everything at once, course content dripping lets you release content at a timed, well-timed pace. This method allows them to learn more slowly with each class, remain engaged and absorb the information more efficiently.

What Differences Will Content Dripping Make for Your Class?

1. Create Knowledge One Step at a Time

Instead of providing students with access to all the content at once, dripping releases each lesson or module according to a set sequence, allowing students to develop their understanding gradually.

The step-by-step approach helps students develop a sense of the progress they have made and their accomplishments throughout the curriculum.

Also, think of your class as a literal staircase, every step is the beginning of a new learning experience. Students need to master the first step before they move on to the following. This ensures they are able to grasp the fundamentals before moving on to higher level ideas.

2. Keep Students Interested and Motivated

If students are aware that they will be receiving new materials frequently, they are able to build anticipation and interest. The anticipation helps keep them interested and they're waiting for the next lesson or module.

They become accustomed to setting aside time for every new class, which makes it more likely of them staying connected and committed to learning from beginning until the end.

3. Deliver Content at Just the Right Time

Course content dripping gives you full control over the timing and method by which you release your lesson plans and aligns them with your course schedule.

If you're trying to introduce a difficult concept that needs a little additional attention or getting ready for a big task that takes more time Content dripping lets you to adjust the delivery of your materials to suit the needs of both your students as well as the class objectives.

4. Aid Everyone to Learn at the Same Pace

Dripping of course content is an effective method of keeping the students moving at a steady rate making sure that nobody is advancing too fast or is left in the middle.

In releasing information at set intervals, you build an environment of learning that is cohesive and that allows everyone to progress with each other.

Welcome student discussions 
 in  Courses

Additionally, with everyone studying together, you are able to quickly spot and tackle those areas where students could require extra help, making sure no one gets left behind.

5. Let Learning be meaningful and manageable

Learning should be something that students are able to enjoy and not an overwhelming learning experience. If all the course content is presented simultaneously this can cause unnecessary stress and anxiety.

Dripping course content offers a more student-friendly approach by delivering lessons in smaller, manageable portions.

Instead of having to learn everything all at once learners can process knowledge at their own speed, which makes the learning process feel more personalized and approachable.

By spacing out the content, you also create feelings of accomplishment to your students after they finish each section. It helps to maintain their interest and keeps their interest in studying.

Course Dripping can be a very effective technique to keep students focused, motivated, and in the right direction. It's an easy and effective way to transform how you teach your lessons, which makes learning more enjoyable for everyone involved.

NEW Dripping of Course Content: Simplifying rules for courses

Making sure that course content drips was a bit of a chore with multiple steps and configurations. It got the job done and was effective, but let's be real that it was not the most efficient way to go about it.

We recognized the need for a streamlined solution, so we've incorporated our Rules feature directly into the Courses Add-on. Now, setting your drip calendars is much more simple and user-friendly.

With the new built-in dripping option, you'll be able to design drip schedules with no need to leave the curriculum builder. This will not only help you save time, but it also guarantees your materials for the course will be protected and released as planned.

You can also customize drip messages within the settings. This makes it easy to communicate with your students the time when the next release of content will be available. This can help keep everyone in the same place.

With our attention to the technical aspects, we've freed you up to concentrate on what needs to be done: creating high-quality instructional content.

How to Set Up Course Content Dripping in the Courses

If your students are racing ahead, we should organize the content of your class so that it keeps them on pace and fully involved with the lessons at hand.

Like we said a bit ago, Courses uses Rules to power content dripping.

 This means that any drip settings applied through Rules will conflict with the integrated dripping settings in the course settings.

So...

  • for a simple and easy experience If you would like your courses to automatically deliver content on the set timeframe (like weekly releases of new content each week) the built-in drip feature is the most convenient alternative. This makes the process easier and ensures a consistent distribution without the need for additional setup.
  • For more personalized control: If you need the ability to publish content frequently or at highly personalized intervals, using Rules can give you this control. This method requires a bit more time and effort to configure additional Rules.

Keep It Simple: Let's Get your Drip Content flowing smoothly!

For setting up your course's content dripping, start by switching off the "Enable Dripping" option in the course configurations.

In the next step, you'll have to define how content will drip - by the section or for each article. You can also set the frequency (daily week, daily or even monthly) and select the start date and time zone for each release of content:

Enable Course Content Dripping in  Courses curriculum

Do you want to create the course's content drip? Watch the full tutorial below to get a thorough walkthrough on how to get going.

What's the next step for course offerings? Or Should We Say, What's New...

Course Dripping might be the most recent and best feature we've released for Courses, however it's certainly not the sole new feature we've added recently.

Before diving into dripping, look through some of the other amazing adjustments you've seen in the plugin.

As we continue to enhance the tools available for your online courses, we discovered that the ever-growing list of tools - such as Questions, Lessons, Assignments, and the Gradebook required an entire space.

We've also given Courses an item in the menu within the WordPress dashboard.

 Courses WordPress dashboard view

Everything that is related to your courses - whether it's creating a new course, building out your curriculums, or tweaking course configurations - is manageable directly from the Courses menu on the Dashboard.

Making Courses separate from its own menu item allows you to keep your course creation and member management functions distinct, which is especially handy if your business relies on both.

If you're already a customer then you've probably seen this minor change. We hope that you're finding the new setup cleaner and more streamlined!

However, if you're new to learning about and want to get started making your course it's possible you're wondering how to access these powerful features.

Simply open the plugin, go to the Add-Ons tab and do a quick search for "course" to narrow down the options available, and then are all the learning tools that have grown beyond the basic plugin's own:

 Courses add-on

Stay tuned for even more upgrades and features to come in the near coming months. But for now, benefit from the brand Dripping of course content feature, and explore the other enhancements we've made to help make your creation of courses easier than before!

Katelyn Gillis       Meet Katelyn: Running the membership sites or online courses can be difficult and that's exactly where Katelyn is able to help. She has a degree in education, and her position as a  Content Manager', she has a knack for breaking down the complexity and providing suggestions that feel like a conversation with a colleague who gets it. In case you're seeking fresh concepts or simply some encouragement you can count on Katelyn's blog entries are here to assist.