What would success look like for you?
That's a crucial question to ask your students during your boarding process.
You see, success looks different for everyone. And even course creators have individual definitions of what a successful cohort means for them.
That makes measuring "success" in a cohort-based course tricky. But I have 5 ideas for you on how to define and measure it.
🎯 Individual student goals
Ask your students to define their personal goals for the course at the start. And let them reflect on what they've achieved at the end. That will give them a sense of accomplishment and help them assess if they've gotten a return on their investment.
📈 Skill improvement
In an attempt to quantify the success, you can ask students to self-assess their skills.
For example, at the start of ODCC1, I've discovered my "Course Creator Coefficient" by ranking my abilities on a scale of 0-10 and noting down why I picked that number.
Having set a baseline, I can now track my growth and progress by completing the survey again in the middle and end of the course.
📣 Student engagement
Keeping everyone actively engaged in the course and leaving nobody behind is a challenge for course creators.
If the same number of students that showed up to the first live session also attends the last, that's a great sign.
🤗 Friendships and connections
The benefits of the course come from the content as much as (when not more) from the network that emerges among students. Although difficult to measure, the meaningful connections made and serendipitous moments created contribute largely to the success of the course.
💵 Revenue
We can't completely ignore the monetary benefits to the course creator. Hitting your revenue goal will ensure that you can give the course your all, and it will allow you to invest in improvements for the next time around.
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Always striving to make your course better pays off. Ultimately, your students' success is your success.
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