Introducing direct messaging improvements

As an instructor, responding to student questions and messages is an important way to establish a connection with your audience and build a loyal following. To help you manage your inbound messages and get students the right help, we’ve made some upgrades to the Messages tool.

What’s new with Messages?

1. To ensure they can get the right assistance, students will now be prompted to indicate the type of message they’re trying to send.

If their message concerns a technical question about the Udemy platform, they’ll be routed to Udemy Support. If it concerns course content, they’ll be invited to check out the course Q&A. If it’s a personal or private message for an instructor, then they’ll be prompted to compose their message within the Messages tool.

2. Instructors now have the ability to turn off messages.

For instructors who receive an unmanageable volume of private messages, we’ve introduced the ability to disable direct messages. A student attempting to message an instructor who has disabled direct messages will see a message indicating the instructor is not accepting new messages.

When an instructor disables Messages, course announcements and welcome/congratulation messages will remain active. Instructors will still be able to read old messages. However, they will not be able to initiate new messages to their students.

Getting instructors the right tools to get students the right help

Today, some instructors respond promptly to direct messages, while others aren’t able to respond at all. We want to maximize the odds that students get the help they’re looking for by routing them to the right channels for their specific needs.

For more detail on how to change your settings regarding messages, check out our Help Center.

How will these tools change the way you engage your audience? Let us know in the Instructor Community.