The Review System

It can be challenging to gather meaningful feedback on new courses, especially as a new instructor. You are welcome to ask for feedback, but be mindful of how you engage your students.

Rules When Asking for Reviews

• Instructors cannot indicate what type of rating or review a student should leave, or outline any detail or information to be included
• Instructors may not specify what medium should be used to express varying feedback
• Instructors are not permitted to trade reviews with other instructors
• Instructors must decline any offer from a student to provide a positive review in exchange for goods or services, and should report the request
• Instructors must not seek to systematically reward positive reviews

How to Ask for Reviews:

• Please give me feedback on my course by writing a review!
• I really hope you found this course valuable, but either way, please leave a review and share your experience.
• Tell me what you think! Write a review when you can. I’m also available for questions - send me a direct message anytime.

How NOT to Ask for Reviews:

• If you liked the course, please give me a 5-star review!
• If you did NOT like the course, please send me a direct message instead of leaving a review.
• I worked very hard on this course and I hope you found it valuable and will leave a positive review about your experience.
• If you leave a (5-star) review, I’ll give you my next course free!

Major Violations

The following activities are considered egregious breaches of trust with Udemy students, and may result in the permanent removal of the offending course and the instructor from the Udemy marketplace.

• Purchased Reviews (reviews in exchange for money)
• Incentivized Reviews including offer of free or discounted courses
• Multiple reviews from a single source (e.g. one user w/ multiple enrollments)
• Reviews generated by bots, scripts, or other inorganic means 

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, it will be considered a violation of our policies.

Occasionally, students may express themselves in a way that undermines the integrity of the review system. If a review is flagged, it will only be removed if it clearly falls into one the following categories.

Reviews unrelated to the student’s learning experience with the instructor

Examples of reviews Udemy will NOT remove:

• The instructor is constantly trying to sell stuff to me
• The instructor was rude to me in the FB group they moderate
• I don’t believe the instructor’s credentials/that this instructor is qualified to teach this topic

Examples of reviews Udemy WILL remove:

• I divorced this instructor for good reason
• I had a bad business deal with this instructor (unrelated/prior to enrollment)
• I took a different course on this topic that I recommend very highly
• The instructor is so ugly, I can’t stand looking at them
• You’re asking me for a review too early

Reviews focusing on technical issues outside the instructor’s control

Examples of reviews Udemy will NOT remove:

• I can’t use the downloadable resources
• The audio is so distorted I can’t hear the instructor
• This course is not made to be watchable on mobile
• Some of the lectures don’t play (reproducible problem with original file)
• The instructor didn’t say I needed to buy additional software to take this course.

Examples of reviews Udemy WILL remove:

• The video playback is choppy (due to Udemy/internet speeds)
• The software the instructor used is expensive, you should use this (free) software
• The captions are poor quality

Reviews deemed obscene, profane, threatening, or hate speech

Examples of reviews Udemy will NOT remove:

• I can’t understand this instructor’s accent
• I can’t stand listening to this instructor; they are so annoying
• This course is worse than going to the dentist

Examples of reviews Udemy WILL remove:

• I can never understand courses from people of this background
• This course is f**king bullsh*t
• I’d rather gouge my eyes out than watch this course
• This instructor should just go and die

Reviews from parties with a demonstrated conflict of interest

Examples of reviewers Udemy does NOT consider in conflict:

• A Udemy instructor with a course in a different subject
• A competitor/colleague who does not teach online
• A student with previous experience with the instructor

Examples of reviewers Udemy does consider in conflict:

• An instructor with a competing course
• A recorded personal or professional relationship unrelated to learning or teaching
• A recorded history of harassment or abuse elsewhere online

The primary purpose of student reviews on Udemy is to help prospective students evaluate if a course is a match for their learning goals. Our review system empowers students to find and enroll in the courses that are most likely to fit their needs. Written reviews also provide instructors with direct feedback which can help them improve their content.

In order for the review system to be effective, students must trust that the system is fair and that Udemy is a neutral party. Instructors can flag reviews, but Udemy will only remove them if they meet the specific, objective criteria outlined below.

Udemy removes reviews in several scenarios:

1. Reviews removed by the Automatic (Spam) Review Filter: If a review, along with the behavior of the reviewer, scores high in our algorithm as potentially spam, the review will not appear. Udemy scans all student ratings and reviews to identify those that are likely to be inauthentic. We incorporate many data points to ensure course feedback reflects the engaged, unbiased opinions of learners with a genuine interest in the course material.

Occasionally, reviews left by friends and family have been hidden by this filter. If you believe that a review has been removed incorrectly, you can let us know at policy@udemy.com. While we are unable to provide any details about the filter, we will investigate to confirm that everything is working as intended.

2. Negative reviews reported as policy abuse: Anyone on Udemy can report a review as an abuse of Udemy’s policy, at which point our policy team will examine whether the review meets one of the criteria that warrants removal. Learn more about when a negative review is against policy.

3. Reviews acquired improperly: Instructors are expected to follow Udemy’s rules against manipulating or influencing reviews, as well as the spirit of the review system as a tool for students to help each other evaluate courses. Learn more about Udemy’s rules against manipulating or influencing reviews.

Instructors may use course reviews published on Udemy to market their courses, however, this type of usage is subject to the following guidelines: 

• Reviews should be from Udemy students, and posted currently on your Udemy course.
• Instructors are not permitted to use full student names or other information which might identify them, such as their job title. Reviews must be at least partially anonymized, by either listing the student’s first name and last initial only, or removing the student’s name entirely. 
• Follow journalistic practices when quoting course reviews. For example, ellipses can be used to shorten reviews, but they shouldn’t otherwise be modified. 
• If a student complains about an instructor’s use of their course review, the instructor must follow best practices in quickly removing the review from their marketing materials, course content, social media, etc. 
• As always, instructors are responsible for ensuring that they comply with applicable laws, including marketing laws.