• Communication Tools: Rules and Guidelines

    Udemy provides a variety of ways for instructors and students to communicate with each other. These tools also help instructors engage with students and answer questions about the course.

    These tools are meant to increase student engagement with the course content. They are not meant to be used to market or sell to the Udemy community. We provide separate marketing tools that instructors can use for this purpose.

    When our instructors misuse communication tools, it causes students to unsubscribe and disengage from the platform, which hurts the entire community.

    What are Communication Tools?

    • Educational Announcements: These are used exclusively by instructors to provide educational content that supplements the course material. While instructors can include links to free, relevant educational content, it should not be used for any kind of marketing or promotions.
      • Learn how our top instructors use educational announcements effectively here.
      • Get detailed guidelines on what instructors can and cannot do with educational announcements here.
    • Direct Messaging: Students and instructors can use this tool to ask and answer questions about the course content. It is meant for 1:1 learning and for getting dedicated feedback about the course, not to promote or market to students.
      • Get detailed guidelines on what instructors can and cannot do with Direct Messaging hereNote: direct messaging is not available in free courses.
    • Q&A: This tool serves as a forum where students can engage each other and the instructor in conversations about the course content. In addition, instructors can reinforce material that has been covered within the course. It is again, not to be used to promote or market to students.
      • Learn how to use the instructor Q&A dashboard here.

    Escalation Policy
    Learn what happens when there is a violation of our policies here.

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  • Direct Messages: Rules and Guidelines

    Direct Messaging is a tool that students use to ask the instructor any questions about the course content. This is a tool that students and instructors can use to ask and answer questions about the course content, and for instructors to use to get dedicated feedback on the course. This is meant for 1:1 learning and feedback, not to promote or market to students.

    Instructors – Detailed Guidelines

    • DO answer questions politely and in a timely manner.
    • DON’T send rude, aggressive, or threatening messages to your students.
    • DON’T use Direct Messaging for mass-messaging students about promotions; the use of coupons, course referral links, external links, marketing messages or references to the same are prohibited. We understand that students can reach out with questions or requests, and it is important for instructors to be responsive. When students reach out with specific questions, you can feel free to answer them and direct them to appropriate resources. However, this is where we will take context into account.
      • For example, if an instructor is encouraging students within the course to send them Direct Messages asking for coupons, then it is considered a violation of our policies when an instructor provides the coupon code through Direct Messaging.
      • On the other hand, if a student reaches out with a question about additional material, it is not a violation if the instructor sends a link to their website where there is more information.
    • DON’T ask for or post personal information about students.

    Students – Detailed Guidelines

    • DO ask instructors questions politely, if you’d prefer not to participate in public course discussions.
    • DON’T send rude, aggressive, or threatening messages to instructors.
    • DON’T use Direct Messaging to spam or request free coupons or other material unrelated to the course.

    When an instructor is clearly going against the spirit of Udemy policies in an attempt to game the system or if we see a severe negative impact on the student experience (high unsubscribe rates or refund rates) it will be considered a violation of our policies.

    Steps on how to send a message to the instructor of a paid course you’ve enrolled in can be viewed here

    Escalation Policy
    Learn what happens when there is a violation of our policies here.

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  • Educational Announcements: Rules and Guidelines

    Educational announcements are used exclusively for educational content that supplements the course material. While instructors can include links to free, relevant educational content, it should not be used for any kind of marketing or promotions. Click here for more information on how to use Announcements well.

    Instructors – Detailed Guidelines

    • You may send only four educational announcements per course per month to students enrolled in the course.
    • You may only include information relevant to your course topic.
    • You may only send educational announcements from courses where you are a visible instructor. For more information on instructor permissions and how to edit them, please click here.
    • You may include educational external links, as long as it doesn’t require students to provide personal information to you, the instructor. Linking to reputable third party sites that keep student information secure (e.g., Amazon, or sites that require signing up through Google, Twitter etc.) are allowed. If there is a link that you’re unsure about using, send us an email to policy@udemy.com, and we’ll be happy to look into it.
    √ Allowed  X Not Allowed
    Using Google Hangouts on Air, Spreecast, or GoToMeeting for webinars

     X Using WebinarIgnition where you can export mailing lists

    Using a LeadPage for webinars that requires students to sign up for a slot

    √ Linking to your blog where students can read a useful post, and there is an option for students to sign up for more information on the side X Linking to your blog where students are required to sign up before they can see the post 
     √  Linking to your blog, where the main visual element is educational, and there are minor advertisements in the side panel, or in a hello bar for other products X Linking to your blog, where the main visual element is promotional, even though there is also educational material provided 
    • You may not include links or references to other Udemy courses (yours or other instructors).
    • You may not include links or references to paid content off Udemy.
    • You may not include links or references to any sites that request money or personal information from students.
    • You may not include links or references to affiliate links.
    • You may not ask for or post personal information about students.

    When an instructor is clearly going against the spirit of Udemy policies in an attempt to game the system or if we see a severe negative impact on the student experience (high unsubscribe rates or refund rates) it will be considered a violation of our policies.

    Escalation Policy

    Learn what happens when there is a violation of our policies here.

    For troubleshooting steps regarding issues with educational announcement deliveries, please refer to this article.

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  • External Links in Announcements

    The Policy: Educational announcements (as opposed to Promotional Emails) are your way to share valuable learning material with your students. External links are allowed in educational announcements, but must contain free educational content only (i.e., non-promotional). You may not direct students from Udemy to other promotional sites where they then would receive coupon codes, be asked to submit an email address before accessing course content, or be prompted to make an off-site purchase of a Udemy course. 

    The Warning Message: External links in your educational announcements must provide free educational content and may not prompt students to make a purchase or provide personal details.
    Please confirm that this is the case or remove the link before proceeding.

    external_links.jpg

    • Why it appears: This warning will appear if our system detects any external links or partial links in your educational announcements. As our system cannot distinguish between an educational link and a non-educational link, this warning will appear as a reminder even if your link is educational.  
    • What to do next: Double check your content. 
      • If your link does NOT lead to free educational content (i.e., it is actually promotional in nature), please remove the link and then proceed. If we find that your educational announcements violate this policy, you run the risk of having your messaging privileges suspended and/or having your course removed from the site, as per Udemy’s Community Guidelines.  
      • If your link does lead to educational content, and you believe you received this warning in error, you do not need to edit your text and may proceed.​
    √ Allowed   Not Allowed
    Links to free, reputable, third party articles.  Links that require students to register or give contact details before they can read the article in its entirety. Links to these types of "squeeze pages" are not allowed.
    Links to your personal blog are okay as long as students are able to consume the entire article for free, without having to give personal details.  Links to paid content, including third-party book or product recommendations, are not allowed in educational announcements. Instead, you may add these links in the "Supplemental Materials" section of your lecture, or add an article lecture at the end of your course that covers supplemental materials.


    Everyone makes mistakes (hence the need for the warning!), but repeated violations of this policy or others may result in feature or account suspension, and eventually the removal of your course from the marketplace as per Udemy’s Community Guidelines. This is a partnership, so if you have any questions at all or if you see something that runs afoul of these guidelines, please let us know by contacting our support team.

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  • Instructors: How to Organize Learner Competitions

    On occasion we see instructors use competitions to engage and motivate learners. Competitions can require thoughtful planning to ensure they are compliant with all relevant Udemy policies. Some of the most frequent issues seen in competitions and giveaways are outlined below.

    Entering contests

    Collection of Personal Identifiable Information (PII) is restricted per Udemy’s Terms. In contests, we will allow for exchange of email addresses to the winner if necessary to dispense with the prize to a limited number of winners.

    As reviews cannot be incentivized, they should not be required for participation. Similarly, instructors can’t request that learners follow on social media, or otherwise engage in promotion for the instructor.

    Promoting the competition 

    The Educational Announcements Guidelines restrict against promotional materials to ensure the focus remains on relevant educational content that will help learners engage with the subject matter.  If using announcements to publicize a competition, make sure that there is an educational component to the announcement and/or the competition. A raffle, for example, would not be considered educational.

    Mass use of direct messages to promote a competition would be considered unsolicited spam.  

    If the competition is always ongoing, it can be mentioned in course content.

    Prizes

    Instructors cannot promote or reference other courses.  It is, however, permissible to offer a free coupon generally to “a course of the winner’s choosing”.

    Take care that the challenge or the prize itself could not be considered a roundabout way of promoting other products or services; for example books published by the instructor. Good prizes we have seen offered in the past:

    • Free coupon to any other course offered by the instructor
    • Shout-out in a future social media post
    • Extra tutoring
    • Amazon gift cards
    • Exam vouchers
    • Books by unrelated third parties 

    Off-platform competitions

    For any competition that violates the guidelines above or other Udemy policies, instructors can instead opt to post it to to their own private mailing lists or social media.  The Bonus Lecture can also be an option, but is not ideal for a time-bound challenge.  

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  • Q&A: Rules and Guidelines

    The Q&A serves as a forum where students can engage each other and the instructor in conversations about the course content, and instructors can reinforce material that's been covered.

    Please note: the Q&A is not available in free courses.

    Instructors – Detailed Guidelines

    • DO encourage your students to interact with each other.
    • DO answer questions politely and in a timely manner.
    • DON’T post rude, aggressive, or threatening comments.
    • DON’T use the Q&A for promotion; posting coupon codes, promotional external links, links to other Udemy courses, any sort of marketing messages or references to the same are prohibited.
    • DON’T ask for or post personal information about students.

    Students – Detailed Guidelines

    • DO ask and answer questions politely.
    • DO engage in discussions with students and the instructor.
    • DON’T post rude, aggressive, or threatening comments.

    When an instructor is clearly going against the spirit of Udemy policies in an attempt to game the system or if we see a severe negative impact on the student experience (high unsubscribe rates or refund rates) it will be considered a violation of our policies.

    Escalation Policy

    Learn what happens when there is a violation of our policies here.

    Read article