In this text, we will go through the things you should communicate to your course participants before, during and after the course. Carefully planned and appropriate course communication will benefit course participants and increase their trust in the course organizer. In addition to that, good communication also reduces your workload as a trainer by providing participants with answers to their questions without having to contact you.
Not all the messages mentioned in this text are necessary for every course, so it is not always needed to follow these guidelines precisely. However, these guidelines can provide good tips on what information participants may need and what kind of communication can support a successful course experience for participants and reduce the number of questions you will receive from them.
Sending messages on the learning platform
How to send messages?
Admins can send emails to the users through the Vuolearning platform.
This can be done in the Users menu.
Select the desired users by ticking the boxes by their names and click the Send message button. If no users are selected, the platform will assume that all users currently viewed in the list will be recipients. So, for example, by selecting a course or group, you can limit the list of users and send a message to a specific course or group.
Then, you can edit the content of the message to your liking. You will also see a list of users to whom the message is about to be sent.
When pressing the Send message button, the system will send the email to the selected list of users.
In addition to the emails, users also receive automatic notifications about events and activities on the platform.
Notifications are sent automatically, when...
- the end of a course's target schedule is approaching (notifications are sent 1 month, 2 weeks, and 1 week before and when it expires)
- the user completes a learning path
- the user completes a course (only if completion was added manually by an admin or after task was reviewed)
- someone replies to their discussion comment
- someone reviews their task
- their access request to a course is accepted or denied
- a new chapter published in a course.
Thus, these events don't necessarily need to be messaged to the users manually.
When should messages be sent?
Before the course
Before the course starts, it is useful to send the participants a short introductory message containing the same information as the introduction on the course.
The message should include practical information about the course, such as...
- When is the latest date to start the course?
- When does the course need to be completed?
- Does the course need to be completed in one sitting or can it be split into several sessions?
- How much time should the participants reserve for the course?
- What kind of participation and interaction is expected from the participants
- Who can they contact if there are questions about the course or the use of the platform?
The message should also provide clear instructions on how to access and log in to the course platform.
The clearer the information is communicated in the introductory message, the fewer questions participants are likely to have about the course. If you find that something about the practical arrangements for the course raises a lot of questions during the course, it is worth communicating this in the introductory message in the future.
Clear communication also improves the participant's experience of the course: it builds trust and creates a feeling that the organizer is on top of things.
During the course
Once the course has started, there are some things that you may want to contact the course participants about.
For example, approaching return dates or target deadlines may be things it would be good to remind students about.
From the course analytics, you can easily see which users have not yet started or are still going through the course, and you can then target such reminders to the right audience.
Messages about great results and progress are sure to delight participants. From the course analytics, you can pick the students who have made good progress or returned great answers and send them a message with feedback about their performance.
After the course
When the course is over, you can finish the process with a closing message.
In the message, you can summarize the course performance and feedback, and thank the learners for their participation and feedback. It is also a good opportunity to encourage students to fill in the course feedback form, if many have not done so.
If you or your organisation have other courses available that could be done as a follow-up to the course the participants have just attended, you can also use the closing message as a place to promote these other courses.