Keeping LMS learners engaged

Enrolling learners is simple but EthosCE keeps them coming back for more!

Enrollments vs. Completions

Enrolling your learners in a course or other learning activity is easy enough, but what about keeping them engaged? EthosCE offers many tools to keep your learners coming back to complete courses and enroll (or purchase) more programs.

In this blog post, we’ll outline tools and techniques for learner engagement.

Confirmations

Enrollment confirmation emails assure your users that they are enrolled in the course, and the email also gives them a link to come back to in case they get lost.

But confirmations can be much more. Let the user know what to expect, how long the course will take and any relevant upcoming dates. Include a description of the course, the learning objectives, and entice the learner with expected outcomes.

For example, if the course is expected to improve the learner’s golf game and reduce their handicap, include that information. Let them know what other users have said about the course and how it’s helped them. Every course communication you make can help you market the course and confirm that the recipient made the right choice in taking the course. Such communications can build the learner’s excitement about the course and your organization as well.

Reminders

Reminders are one of the most powerful engagement tools in EthosCE. Reminders are emails or text messages that can be customized to each learner and course. And although EthosCE calls these tools “reminders,” they can be much more.

Each course in EthosCE comes with a set of default reminders you can enable and customize. For example, messages that are sent at: Course enrollment, course event date, specified date, course completion, and course expiration.

In addition, each course object that is added to a course automatically creates three additional reminders: start, completion and inactivity. For example, if an assessment named “pre-test” is added to the course, then the following reminders become available: Pre-test start, Pre-test completion and Pre-test inactivity.

Inactivity happens when a user starts a course object, but has not completed it.

Let’s take that example one further. Assume your course is a hybrid course with live and online components and has the following course objects:

1. Pre-test
2. Live event
3. E-learning module
4. Post-test
5. Peer comparison
6. Evaluation
7. Credit
8. Certificate
9. 60-day follow-up evaluation.

To increase engagement and keep learners coming back to your course, you might set the following email reminders:

• At Course Enrollment – Welcome Message
• Pre-test inactivity – To remind the learners to complete the pre-test before the live event
• One week before live event – Live event reminder
• One day before live event – Live event reminder
• Start of live event – To welcome the learners to the event and provide relevant details
• One day after live event – To thank the learners and remind them to do the online e-learning module with a link to the module.
• Seven days after Post-test inactivity – To reminder learners who have not completed the post-test that they are not finished yet.
• Credit completion – To thank the learners for completing the course and provide links to other, related courses to take or purchase.
• Two weeks after course completion – To send a list of related courses the learner may be interested in taking or purchasing.
• 60 days after course – Send a reminder to users to complete the follow-up evaluation.
• One week before course expiration – To remind learners that the course will be expiring soon and to download any needed materials.

Repeat reminders

Reminders can also repeat. For inactivity reminders, this means that the reminder will repeat every X days for X occurrences set by the course administrator. Reminders will automatically stop when the user completes the course object.

Text messaging

Text message (SMS) reminders are also available. Text messages are an inexpensive and direct way to reach your learners, especially at live events.

At a live event, you can use text messages to reminder conference attendees about plenary or keynotes, provide links to resources and promote sponsors and receptions.

Mobile

All courses and learner pages in EthosCE are mobile friendly. When a user receive a reminder email or text message, clicking the link on their phone or tablet will take them directly to the course. No need to wait to complete it on a desktop computer.

Course completions

When a user completes a course, the course admin can set a custom confirmation message. Use this space to instruct the learner what to do next, but also to promote related courses, provide a single-use coupon or invite the learner to suggest other courses. Ask learners to rate the course after they are done!

Customized home page/group blocks

The home page and group home pages are a great way to reach learners as well. The home and group pages can be customized to show the learner the courses they are enrolled in and the courses they have completed. Their list of enrolled courses can show each user their status in the course and how many days remaining until expiration.

Learner engagement, gamification and increasing revenue

If you are selling courses, all the previous methods of learner engagement can be combined with sharing lists of related courses or coupon codes to provide a discount. Think about gamification: Let users know that when a specified group of courses is completed, they’ll receive a coupon with a free enrollment or discount for another course!

EthosCE allows course administrators to add optional course pages inside a course. Uses these pages to gamify your course by adding a portion of a coupon code to each. With each step through a course the learner will be getting closer to a free or discounted course. Pair these with reminders to engage and encourage the learners to complete the course.