Week three, and three kinds of student
Your course releases one module a week for eight weeks, to keep students from binge-watching and giving up. In week three, three students write in. One joined late, on the grace period, and has three modules released at once and no idea where to start. One deferred to the next cohort for a family reason, but still gets this cohort's emails. One took two weeks off when her child was ill and feels hopelessly behind because the emails keep announcing modules she has not reached.
You adjust access by hand for each of them, and send personal emails. You wonder how many others feel the same and have not written.
Why a single schedule does not fit
Most drip features release lessons on fixed dates for everyone, or days after enrolment with no way to pause. Your emails are scheduled the same way. That works for the student who keeps pace, and for nobody else. Every exception has to be handled by hand, if you notice it.
- Late joiners get several modules at once with no guidance.
- Deferrals keep receiving the old cohort's emails.
- Pauses for illness or holidays are not supported.
- Emails announce lessons the student cannot see, or has not reached.
- Exceptions are managed in your inbox.
What rigid drips cost
Students who feel behind stop, and students who stop are the ones who ask for refunds or never buy again. Handling exceptions by hand takes your time every week. And the drip schedule, designed to help students, ends up being the reason some of them give up.
Drip rules that follow the student
- Each student has their own start date and pace, set at enrolment from the cohort or from the day they join.
- Late joiners get a catch-up path: the modules they have missed released with a suggested order and a short email for each.
- Deferrals move the student to the next cohort's schedule and email sequence, keeping any progress they have made.
- Students can pause for a set number of weeks, under your rules, which shifts their future releases and emails.
- Release emails are sent per student, based on their own schedule, so they only announce what the student can see.
- Access changes are applied through your course platform's API, so students see the lessons in the usual place.
- You can see which students are on a changed schedule and why.
| Student | Schedule | Emails |
|---|---|---|
| Started on day one | Weekly releases | Weekly announcements |
| Joined in week three | Catch-up path, then weekly | Catch-up guidance, then weekly |
| Deferred to next cohort | Next cohort's dates | Next cohort's sequence |
| Paused for two weeks | Releases shift by two weeks | Shift with the releases |
A course that bends with real life
Late joiners start with a clear path instead of a wall of lessons. Deferred students hear from the right cohort. Students who pause come back to a schedule that waited for them, and emails that match what they see. Your inbox loses the weekly handful of access requests, and you can see at a glance who is on a changed schedule.
For the three students from week three, it plays out simply. The late joiner gets a catch-up email for each missed module, a day apart, then joins the weekly rhythm. The deferred student hears nothing more from this cohort and starts receiving the next cohort's welcome on its start date. The student who paused picks up exactly where she left off, with the next module released on her own schedule.
The drip schedule goes back to doing what you designed it for: helping students keep a steady pace.
Is your drip schedule causing this?
- Late joiners are confused by several modules released at once.
- Deferred students still get the old cohort's emails.
- Students ask to pause and you adjust access by hand.
- Release emails do not match what students can see.
- Students who fall behind stop altogether.