How to set up Drip Schedule
Drip Schedule lets you control how students access your course content. You can choose to release entire sections on specific dates, or unlock them automatically a set number of days after enrollment.
This ensures students progress through the material at your preferred pace, preventing them from jumping ahead.
You can activate Drip for your course by clicking Edit => Drip Schedule => then toggle the button Activate Drip.
Note: The Drip feature only works per course, meaning you can have multiple drip courses active on your account.
How to activate your drip feature
STEP 1: Click Activate Drip >> then click the checkbox of the initial trigger for the drip sequence.
STEP 2: Activate a sending email if you have not set up your bulk email sending address.
You can refer to this link for more information on how to set up your bulk email.
STEP 3: Now, click on the drop-down arrow for the course section on the right side of the start of the screen to start customizing the drip schedule.
STEP 4: For those lessons that require a release schedule unique to each lesson, you should enter the days after the start date of each lesson that you wish to release the lesson.
When a lesson is left at 0 days, students can access them based on the initial trigger you selected in Step 1.
STEP 5: This is optional If you would like to notify your students via email that a particular lesson has been dripped for them.
Click the Send Email check box >> then Click Edit Email to edit the subject and body of the email.
STEP 6: Click Save on the top right.
The initial trigger for the Drip Sequence
Choosing what event would trigger the drip sequence for your newly enrolled student would be best. There are three event triggers to pick from, and they are:
- Student enrollment date
- Student course start date
- On a specific date
When setting up a Drip schedule, please note that one date in UTC may be another in your local time zone. For example, Onlinecoursehost servers use UTC +0 as their timezone, which cannot be manually changed.
Student enrollment date
This drip sequence is based on when your student enrolls in your course for the first time. Depending on the date each student starts, each will have their schedule.
In this drip option, you can customize the number of days. The day your student enrolls in the course for the first time is considered day 0.
A new student, for example, could have access to Section 1 Lesson 1 immediately (day 0), be given access to Section 1 Lesson 2 7 days after enrolling, and access to Section one Lesson 3 14 days after enrolling.
Student course start date
A drip is triggered when a student accesses the course for the first time.
In the case of manual enrollment, this feature is very useful because even though your students are enrolled in your course, they may not be able to access the content right away.
The drip schedule will only begin when a student specifically accesses lessons in the Course Player.
This drip option is customizable in days. It is on day 0 that your student first accesses the Course Player for this course.
A student could, for example, access Chapter 1 lessons right away (day 0) when they visit the Course Player for your course and Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 lessons seven days later.
On a specific date
Every student will have the same Drip Schedule regardless of when they enroll in your course if drip relies on a specific date. You can use this option for cohorts that want to progress through a course together.
The content will be available at 12:01 am, in your local time, on the date set for the Drip Schedule.
When you set your Drip Schedule to Jan. 1st, 2024, students who sign up before Jan. 1st cannot access the course until 12:01 am on Jan. 1st, 2024.
All students worldwide can access the same content simultaneously, and your content will be accessible immediately to students who sign up after 12:01 am UTC on January 1st, 2024.
How to set up a drip on a specific date
STEP 1: Click the Activate Drip button
STEP 2: Then click the checkbox โOn a specific dateโ
STEP 3: Click the calendar icon and select your desired release date. The same applies to all the lessons in the course. You can customize each lesson individually later.
STEP 4: Click the Save button in the top right corner, as shown in the screenshot below:
Set up drip announcement
If you would like to notify your students that a lesson has been released for them, then ensure to click the โSend Emailโ checkbox for that particular lesson.
You can also edit the subject and body of each email your students receive by clicking the โEdit Emailโ button.
You will also be required to activate your sending Email for the Drip. Please look at our helpful article on how to activate bulk email.
STEP 1: Click the Send Email checkbox and the Edit Email button.
STEP 2: Fill out the email form to schedule an email letting students know when the course section will become available. Fill in the email subject and body, then click Save Email.
Please note that the drip feature is only available on the Pro and Enterprise plans.
NOTE: You have to edit the email for each lesson that you have checked the send email button.
To disable email announcements, uncheck the Send Email button, and the email announcement will not be sent to your students.
Kindly see our FAQs about the drip Schedule here.