Have you ever poured your heart and soul into creating an amazing online course, only to find a significant portion of your students never reaching the finish line? The truth is, low online course completion rates are a major pain point for online educators.
Studies show that completion rates for online courses typically hover around 5-15%, with some platforms reporting even lower figures as a result of the ever-shrinking attention span. This means a large chunk of your potential impact and income may be left unrealized.
💡So, why should you care about course completion rates? It boils down to a simple equation: more completions = more satisfied learners = less course dropouts = increased revenue and impact.
Research reveals that engaged learners are more likely to recommend your course, subscribe to future offerings, and leave positive reviews, solidifying your reputation and attracting new students.
Moreover, with higher completion rates, you maximize the return on investment you’ve poured into creating your course, ensuring your efforts translate into tangible results.
There is hope, however! Platforms like LearnWorlds offer a beacon of hope with their robust marketing features specifically designed to boost learner engagement and completion rates.
These features go beyond simply delivering content and dive deep into understanding student motivation, fostering community, and creating a dynamic online learning experience.
In the following sections, we’ll explore some effective pre-course, in-course, and post-course strategies of how to engage your learners to complete your online course, and we’ll show you how LearnWorlds empowers you to turn the tide on low completion rates and unlock the full potential of your online courses.
Get ready to explore actionable strategies that will captivate your learners, keep them motivated, and guide them towards a fulfilling learning journey.
Decoding the Secret Sauce: Understanding the Dynamics of Learner Motivation
Here’s the million-dollar question: what makes some learners devour entire courses while others lose steam halfway through? The answer lies in understanding learner motivation, the driving force behind their engagement and commitment.
Broadly speaking, motivation falls into two camps: intrinsic and extrinsic.
Intrinsic motivation stems from the joy of learning and the learning process itself. Learners are driven by the:
thrill of discovery: unraveling new knowledge, acquiring new skills, and witnessing personal and professional growth.
challenge of accomplishment: grappling with complex concepts, pushing beyond comfort zones, and striving for self-improvement.
quest for purpose: when learning aligns with learners’ values and interests, it becomes a meaningful pursuit, intrinsically motivating us to persevere.
Extrinsic motivation, on the other hand, comes from external rewards and recognition, such as:
tangible rewards: grades, certificates of completion, or gamified points can provide external validation and encourage progress.
recognition and praise: appreciation from peers, instructors, or mentors can serve as external motivators, boosting confidence and engagement.
social pressure and competition: while potentially double-edged swords, the desire to meet expectations or outperform others can sometimes provide an external push.
Catering to both sides of the motivational coin is key to boosting course completion rates.
How To Build An Engaging Learning Environment For Your Learners
The most effective learning environments often tap into both intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. Ideally, extrinsic rewards can act as springboards, igniting initial interest and providing feedback, while intrinsic factors like curiosity and purpose propel learners on a sustained journey.
As you can realize, building an engaging learning environment for your learners is a challenge on its own. As an online course creator, you need a course platform like LearnWorlds, one of the top leading online learning management system (LMS), that is flexible enough to enable you to build your elearning courses exactly the way you envision them, but also feature-rich enough to empower you to tap into both intrinsic and extrinsic drivers as mentioned above.
Tap into intrinsic motivators
Content variety and depth: Use multimedia features like interactive videos, quizzes, interactive exercises, and downloadable resources to cater to different learning styles and keep things fresh. This will help you prevent your learning and training programs from becoming boring and disengaging.
LearnWorlds empowers your course design and creation as it allows you to create engaging content in a plethora of interactive and engaging content formats.
At the heart of the LearnWorlds platform lies the most customizable course player in the market, equipped with a rich library of interactive learning activities. This isn’t just about delivering content; it’s about crafting compelling, interactive courses that captivate and retain learner attention. You’re not just a creator; you’re a curator of unique, flexible learning experiences that cater to various styles and preferences.
With LearnWorlds, you are the architect of your content. You can design your course exactly as you envisioned, with real-time previews and a swift, seamless setup process. You’re not just building courses; you’re crafting bespoke learning journeys, tailored to the needs and preferences of your audience.
You can implement flexible pathways to control how learners navigate your content, be it freely, sequentially, or under your custom restrictions. Employ drip feed strategies and automated workflows to deliver your content precisely when it’s most impactful.
Enhance reading and learning strategies with interactive note-taking features, ensuring your learners engage with the material on a deeper level.
Take your courses to the next level by mixing and matching interactive eBooks pages, videos, post-course evaluation forms, SCORM packages, live sessions, and one-on-one meetings. The variety and depth of learning activities available are astounding, promising an enriching experience that is bound to surprise and delight.
Microlearning and chunking: microlearning is a strategy that involves delivering content in small, manageable segments, which can be particularly effective in online learning environments. Breaking down content into smaller, manageable modules makes it less intimidating and helps learners achieve a sense of accomplishment as they progress through the course. This boosts intrinsic motivation by providing frequent micro-victories and reinforcing their belief in their ability to complete the journey.
💡Here are a few practical ways of how you can effectively implement a microlearning strategy in your online courses with LearnWorlds, thereby enhancing learner engagement and completion rates:
Short, focused lessons: with LearnWorlds you can create all sorts of short, bite-sized lessons. These can be focused on a single topic or concept, making it easier for learners to digest and retain information.
Interactive video: as the platform supports interactive video features, you can add quizzes, pop-up notes, or interactive elements directly into your videos. This can help in breaking down complex topics into smaller, more engaging segments.
Quizzes and assessments: including short quizzes and assessments at the end of each microlearning unit can reinforce learning and provide immediate feedback. LearnWorlds offers the most advanced assessment builder in the market for creating various types of assessments.
Mobile learning: a mobile-friendly platform is crucial for microlearning. With LearnWorlds, you can easily build your very own branded mobile app where learners can access content anytime, anywhere, from their mobile devices which is ideal for short learning sessions.
Downloadable resources: you can provide downloadable resources for each microlearning segment. These can be quick reference guides, summaries, or infographics that reinforce the learning material. Research how to take minutes from online sessions so you can be most effective in leaving a long-lasting record of important discussions and decisions. They will serve as a valuable part of the downloadable resource pack you’ll provide for your students.
Social learning tools: LearnWorlds includes social learning features like discussion forums and communities. These can be used to encourage learners to engage with small pieces of content, share their insights, and learn from each other.
Progress tracking: enabling your learners to observe their progression through manageable, bite-sized units can significantly boost their motivation. With LearnWorlds, you can leverage flexible tools for tracking progress, which is key in a microlearning strategy. In fact, LearnWolds offers the broadest set of user progress management options: for one, several, or users in bulk; per learning activity, course, or group of courses.
Personalized learning paths: you can enable your learners to follow a tailored sequence of microlearning units based on their individual needs or interests. With LearnWorlds you can create personalized learning paths that cater to individual learner needs and stages. You can do this using tags, to signify the audience type and recommendations of courses that would best match this audience type.
LearnWorlds also supports SCORM packages, empowering you to provide more personalization per learner or groups of learners. This personalization fosters a sense of ownership and relevance, further fueling intrinsic motivation.
💁Interested in learning how to build your own personalized learning paths for your learners step-by-step? Our LearnWorlds Instructional Design Experts have the perfect free online course for you: “Create Personalized Training Micro-Flows”
💁Discover 17 elearning scenarios to turbocharge personalization for your learners across all levels with our free ebook “Personalization Redefined: 17 E-learning Scenarios to Drive Your Learners Success.”
Get equipped with the tools, framework, and invaluable insights to seamlessly provide automated mass personalization to the few, hundreds, or even thousands of learners in your academy.
Tap into extrinsic motivators
Community building: Fostering a supportive and interactive community through forums, groups, and live sessions provides external validation and a sense of belonging. Learners feel accountable to their peers, motivated by their successes, and supported through challenges.
Progress tracking and feedback: Detailed analytics and reporting tools allow you to provide personalized feedback directly to users and track their individual progress. This visible reinforcement helps learners stay on track and motivates them to push forward. If you have built your school using LearnWords, then you already have access to a robust Report & Analytics dashboard with detailed insights of user progress, user engagement, financial metrics, course insights, and more.
Gamification: LearnWorlds offers built-in gamification features like certifications and shareable badges. Combine these playful elements with engaging activities in the built-in community to tap into the human desire for recognition and competition, adding a layer of fun and excitement to the online learning process.
Sara Cortellazzi, Senior Product Marketing Manager at LearnWorlds, brings a wealth of knowledge to the table. She shares several insightful ideas on how to tap into extrinsic motivators, drawn from her extensive experience in the field:
“A great way to maintain engagement is by implementing a course format that includes collecting questions from students. These can be addressed in weekly Q&A sessions, which is particularly effective in drip-feed or cohort-based courses.
Speaking of cohort courses, combining these with group projects facilitated through an online community platform can significantly boost motivation. I personally experienced a course structured this way, and it was incredibly effective.
Another crucial aspect to consider is the course pricing. Interestingly, courses with a higher price tag often see higher completion rates. This could be due to the perceived value or investment made by the learners, motivating them to fully engage and complete the course.”
Keep in mind that motivation is a spectrum, not a binary choice. By strategically combining features that address both intrinsic and extrinsic drivers, LearnWorlds helps you build a motivational ecosystem that keeps your learners engaged and on the path to successful completion.
Pre-Course Strategies 🚀 Laying the Groundwork for Completion
Before your learners even embark on their learning journey, setting the stage for success is crucial. Here’s how LearnWorlds’ pre-course strategies can help you attract the right audience, manage expectations, and ignite their enthusiasm:
Targeted Marketing:
Land the right audience: Forget the shotgun approach. Create targeted pages tailored to specific demographics and interests. LearnWorlds’ landing page builder lets you use powerful visuals, compelling headlines, and clear calls to action to attract learners who are a perfect fit for your course.
Marketing automation magic: Leverage automation tools to send personalized email reminders, nurture leads, and engage potential students with relevant content even before they enroll. This keeps your course top-of-mind and builds anticipation. A powerful online course platform like LearnWorlds offers a plethora of automations, for learning engagement and for managing your users and communication workflows.
Compelling Course Previews:
Pre-Engagement Activities:
Spark interest with quizzes: Use interactive quizzes to assess potential students’ prior knowledge and gauge their interest level. Introduce your topic with quizzes that contain interrelated questions. Learners are prepared for what they are about to learn with background knowledge probes. This personalized approach shows you care and helps them feel invested before even enrolling.
Challenges that ignite curiosity: Design fun and engaging pre-course challenges related to the course content. This generates excitement, allows students to apply their existing knowledge, and sets the stage for deeper learning.
In-Course Strategies🔥Keeping the Fire Burning Bright
Once your students have crossed the enrollment threshold, it’s time to ensure they stay engaged and motivated throughout the course.
Remember, variety, interactivity, and personalization are the keys to keeping your students hooked.
By leveraging LearnWorlds’ in-course features, you can create a dynamic and engaging learning environment that fosters active participation, collaboration, and a sense of personalized progress, catering to different online learning and online training styles, ultimately leading to better student engagement, higher completion rates and satisfied learners.
Content Variety and Structure:
Multimedia magic: Ditch the text-heavy approach! LearnWorlds lets you craft engaging lessons using a rich blend of media like videos, quizzes, interactive exercises, downloadable resources, and even gamified elements. This variety keeps things fresh, caters to different learning styles, and prevents cognitive overload.
Chunk it up: Information overload is a completion killer. By breaking down your content into smaller, digestible modules, you improve focus and make the learning process less intimidating. LearnWorlds allows you to easily organize your course into logical units, providing a clear roadmap for learners and a sense of accomplishment as they move through each section.
Interactive Elements:
Discussions that spark collaboration: Foster a vibrant learning community through discussion forums and groups. This allows learners to connect, share insights, ask questions, and support each other, boosting engagement and motivation.
Polls for active participation: Inject interactive polls and surveys into your lessons to gauge understanding, stimulate discussion, and keep learners actively involved in the learning process.
Live sessions that bring it all together: Take things to the next level with live sessions where you can interact with your students in real-time, answer questions, and provide personalized guidance. This direct interaction strengthens the sense of community and keeps learners invested.
Personalized Learning Paths:
Tailored journeys: LearnWorlds doesn’t believe in one-size-fits-all learning. Utilize user segmentation and conditional branching to create personalized learning paths based on individual needs, preferences, and prior knowledge. This ensures each student receives the most relevant and impactful learning experience, keeping them engaged and on track.
Empower continuous learning and growth. With LearnWorlds Reset Progress feature, updating course content and enabling users to retake courses becomes a breeze. It’s the perfect tool for situations where course materials are updated, or new information is added, allowing learners to revisit and absorb the latest knowledge, keeping their skills sharp and up-to-date.
Transform learning with personalized second chances. LearnWorlds Reset Progress feature empowers you to offer every learner a unique opportunity to revisit and complete courses or activities. Tailor the learning journey to each individual’s circumstances, recognizing that every path to success is different. This tool is your ally in creating a supportive and adaptable learning environment, where second chances are a gateway to mastery and confidence.
💡Reviving Engagement: How an Online IT School Boosted Course Completion Rates by 30%
Here’s a noteworthy success story from one of LearnWorlds customers, an online school specializing in information technology and computer science training courses.
The online school identified a challenge: a notable number of students were infrequently logging into their courses. To address this, they implemented LearnWorlds’ integrated email notification system, supplemented with custom tags. Students who hadn’t logged in for 30 days were labeled as “inactive” and received personalized follow up email notifications encouraging their return.
The results were remarkable. Over 400 students re-engaged and completed their courses, marking a 30% increase of the conversion in completion rates among those at risk of dropping out.
But the school’s efforts extended beyond just email campaigns. They fostered a vibrant online community, with administrators regularly sharing engaging and relevant content related to their courses. This approach not only kept learners involved but also showcased the dynamic nature of their educational offerings.
Additionally, their course-related emails achieved an impressive 50% open rate, indicating high student engagement. On average, students dedicated over an hour to each course session. The school also monitored course enrollments meticulously, with one course attracting over 4000 students.
Post-Course Strategies 🧲 Fan the Flames of Continued Engagement
So, your students have crossed the finish line – congratulations! But your journey with them doesn’t end there. Post-course engagement is crucial for building loyalty, encouraging repeat business, and maximizing the impact of your course.
By implementing the post-course strategies we suggest in this blog post, you’ll not only boost learners’ satisfaction and sense of accomplishment, but also lay the foundation for stronger relationships and future business opportunities.
Afterall, it’s all about creating a continuous elearning ecosystem that fosters growth, retention and engagement, long after the course is over.
LearnWorlds provides tools to keep your learners connected, motivated, and growing even after they “graduate”:
Community Building
Beyond the course: Don’t let your online community stagnate. Leverage LearnWorlds’ forums, groups, and live Q&A sessions to provide ongoing support, opportunities for networking, and a platform for continued interaction and knowledge sharing. This fosters a sense of belonging, keeps your learners connected to you and each other, and encourages them to stay invested in their learning journey.
Incentives and Challenges
Gamification keeps the fun going: Reward continued engagement with badges, certificates of completion, and gamified rewards. Design post-course challenges that encourage learners to apply their knowledge, deepen their understanding, and compete in a friendly way. This adds a layer of fun and motivation, reminding them of the value your course offers.
Progress Tracking and Feedback
Data-driven insights: LearnWorlds’ analytics and reporting tools offer a wealth of data about your students’ progress, completion rates, and engagement levels. Basically, one of the reasons why students may not complete a course is that the course is not engaging enough. So course insights can help you as a course creator to identify what needs to be improved based on how popular it was (or wasn’t) a unit or how far down the line learners watched videos, which units were skipped the most etc. You can combine this with course evaluations for a clearer picture of what to do better.
💁Here’s a blog post to learn more about course insights and how to use them to your benefit: Introducing: LearnWorlds Course Insights.
Use this data to identify areas for improvement, personalize future offerings, and provide targeted feedback to individual learners. This demonstrates your commitment to their success and encourages them to continue learning with you.
Remember, the learning journey doesn’t stop at the course completion screen. By fostering community, incentivizing engagement, providing ongoing support, and a robust learning management system like LearnWorlds you can create a truly transformative learning experience that extends beyond the course and builds loyal, lifelong learners.
💡Bonus Tip: Offer exclusive content, discounts, or early access to new courses to graduates who stay engaged. This incentivizes them to remain active members of your learning community and creates a powerful incentive for future enrollments.
💡Tips From Real Use Cases – How to Build Community and Engagement through Collaborative Reflection Spaces (a.k.a Affinity Spaces)
Navigating a course in isolation often leads to a decrease in motivation among learners, as they lack the essential social and community touchpoints that foster engagement and enthusiasm.
The key to combating this challenge lies in integrating various interactive modalities into the learning process. This approach not only ensures a more gradual and solid acquisition of knowledge but also plays a critical role in lowering dropout rates and enhancing the overall enjoyment of the learning journey.
Traditional educational methods, such as assessments and follow-up tasks, are familiar and effective, yet they can sometimes seem monotonous and disconnected when experienced in the solitary confines of a user interface.
To create a more dynamic and engaging learning environment, one practical solution is to establish an ‘affinity space’ within the course structure. This can be achieved by enabling learners to actively engage in reflection, discussion, and analysis after each unit, chapter, or significant segment of the lesson.
Imagine a section beneath each learning segment where learners can freely express their thoughts, ranging from a single insightful phrase to an elaborate multi-paragraph analysis. Their contributions, accompanied by their names and perhaps even profile photos, would be displayed at the end of each unit.
This not only allows for a rich tapestry of ideas and perspectives to be shared but also encourages learners to interact with one another, comparing viewpoints, and engaging in meaningful discussions on each other’s posts.
If you’re still pondering the effectiveness of this approach, consider these two short scenarios to help you visualize its potential impact:
Use case 1: Gamification in action
Let’s picture Mike, who’s nearly done with the ‘Decision Making’ chapter in his Management course. He’s dived into some captivating videos and webinars, pored over a couple of intriguing case studies, and has devoted a good few hours so far.
Once he finishes the unit, he gets a thumbs-up for completion, his points in the course’s gamification leaderboard system bump up by 2, and he’s all set to tackle 5 multiple-choice questions. This is to double-check his grasp on the material before he jumps into the next chapter.
So, what’s the takeaway from Scenario 1?
From an educational point of view:
Mike has definitely had a rich learning experience with varied materials – check ✔️
He’s been rewarded with points for his progress in the unit, adding a bit of fun and motivation to the mix – check ✔️
And to top it off, he’s got a quick quiz to assess hands-on his understanding of the new knowledge – check ✔️
All things considered, it seems like everything’s on track, and that wraps up Mike’s case.
Use case 2: Enhancing engagement with reflective discussions
As Mike nears the completion of the ‘Decision Making’ chapter in his Management course, he has immersed himself in a variety of engaging materials: absorbing videos and a few in-depth case studies, dedicating several hours to his learning journey.
Upon concluding the unit, Mike encounters a reflective prompt, accompanied by a text box for his response. The question asks, ‘Which decision-making strategy resonated with you the most, and why? Have you applied any of these strategies in your role as a team leader or member?’
Mike begins to articulate his thoughts, highlighting his preference for the Devil’s Advocacy Approach. He explains its practicality in ensuring comprehensive case analysis, and how incorporating diverse viewpoints and challenges from team members leads to more secure and collectively endorsed decisions.
After submitting his response, it becomes part of a communal section where all students share their insights. Here, Mike can read, upvote, and engage with his peers’ reflections, fostering a dynamic learning community.
This interaction not only enriches his understanding but also contributes to his course gamification, earning him an additional 2 points. Now, Mike is ready to test his grasp of the chapter through 5 multiple-choice questions, ensuring his readiness to advance to the next chapter.
So, what’s the takeaway from Scenario 2?
In the first scenario, the key difference was that our learner got to think about what they learned in a setting that really mattered. They didn’t just do another educational task, like self-reflection, which already helps in understanding the material and linking it to real life. They also felt like they were part of a big, global group of learners and professionals, whether they’re just starting out or already established.
This group discusses topics, shares different viewpoints, and even sees which ideas are most popular, based on the most votes.
This approach makes the learning process much richer and more varied. It combines different ways of learning and benefits from a community space where everything comes together. This not only helps students learn better and faster but also keeps them motivated to stay on track with their peers throughout the course.
Ensure Completion Success with LearnWorlds
The journey towards high course completion rates is not a solo endeavor. LearnWorlds stands beside you, equipped with a robust toolkit of marketing and engagement features designed to captivate your learners, keep them motivated, and guide them towards successful completion.
Remember the key takeaways:
Understanding learner motivation – both intrinsic and extrinsic – is crucial for crafting a compelling learning experience.
Pre-course strategies attract the right audience, set clear expectations, and build anticipation.
In-course variety, interactivity, and personalization keep learners engaged and on track.
Post-course community, incentives, and feedback nurture loyalty and encourage continued learning.
By leveraging these strategies and the power of LearnWorlds, you can transform completion rates from a concern to a celebration. Imagine a vibrant learning community, satisfied students raving about your content, and the impact of your knowledge reaching its full potential.
Ready to boost completion success for your online course? Let LearnWorlds be your partner in creating engaging, impactful, and completion-worthy online courses that empower your students to achieve their learning goals. Start your journey today with a 30-day free trial!
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Michael Apostolakis
Michael is the Office Manager at LearnWorlds, bringing a rich tapestry of professional experience spanning 15 years in education and a decade in business management. He is particularly skilled in the area of digitally mediated foreign language instruction, having distinguished himself in various capacities, including exam preparation and serving as an examiner. In addition to his educational background, Michael has honed his skills in sales and project management, demonstrating exceptional proficiency as a Sales Executive and Business Manager. Michael’s natural flair for sales, combined with his formal training in teaching and management, enables him to effectively share knowledge and provide guidance through dynamic and multimodal teaching approaches.
Rosemary is LearnWorlds’ Content Marketing Manager. She has over 2 decades of experience in omnichannel marketing and content writing for the IT and SaaS industry. Her expertise lies in crafting effective content marketing strategies that attract, engage, and nurture customers, enabling LearnWorlds to reach its target audiences with precision.
