Drip content
Also called: content dripping, scheduled release
Releasing a course's lessons on a schedule instead of all at once — for example one module a week after enrollment, or on fixed calendar dates for a cohort.
Dripping does two things. It paces a learner who would otherwise binge the first three lessons and never return, and it protects a course from being downloaded wholesale on day one by someone who intended to refund.
The two common schedules answer different problems: days-after-enrollment suits rolling enrollment, where each student's clock starts when they pay; a fixed calendar date suits a cohort, where everyone should reach module four in the same week.
For example
An eight-module course sold on the first of the month unlocks Module 1 on enrollment and one more every seventh day, so the last opens on day 49. A student who buys on the 20th is still on Module 2 when the cohort's live session covers Module 2 — which is the point of dripping to a calendar rather than to each student's own clock.
On Prolaud
Each module can unlock a set number of days after the student enrolls, on a fixed date, or both — the later of the two wins. It is on every plan, the free trial included.
Related terms
- Cohort-based course — A course taught to a group who start and finish together on a fixed schedule, usually with live sessions, rather than a recording each student works through alone whenever they like.
- Learning management system (LMS) — Software that hosts course content, enrolls students, tracks their progress and records results. It is the system of record for teaching, as opposed to a website that merely sells a course.