Welcome to our one-stop guide on inviting and manually enrolling students in Private or Hidden courses on Thinkific! If you’re an online course creator looking for ways to restrict access to your courses, you’ve come to the right place.
In this article, we’ll discuss how to set up Private or Hidden courses on Thinkific and, most importantly, manually invite and enroll students who may not have direct access to these courses. We’ll cover everything from the benefits of using Private or Hidden courses to the step-by-step process of enrolling students manually.
So let’s dive in and explore the world of Thinkific course enrollment!
Setting up a Private or Hidden Thinkific Course
Creating a Private or Hidden course on Thinkific is an effective way to restrict access to your course content and only allow specific students to enroll. But before we dive into how to manually enroll students, let’s first define what Private and Hidden courses are.
A Private course on Thinkific is only accessible to students invited to enroll. This means that the course won’t appear in your course catalog, and students won’t be able to find it through a search.
On the other hand, a Hidden course is only visible to students who have the course link, which the course creator can only share.
How to Set up a Private or Hidden Course
To set up a Private or Hidden course, log in to your Thinkific account and navigate to your admin dashboard. Go to “Manage Learning Products” and select “Courses.”
From the course library, locate the course you want to edit, and click the “Settings” tab. Look for the “Access” section under “Basic Settings,” where you’ll find the options for Private or Hidden courses.
Select the checkbox for either option, save your changes, and you’re all set!
Advantages of Private or Hidden Courses
The benefits of using Private or Hidden courses are numerous. For instance, you can use them to create exclusive courses for specific groups of people, such as employees or members of a club or organization.
They also allow you to control who has access to your course content, which can be especially important for courses with sensitive or confidential information.
Now that we’ve covered the basics of setting up a Private or Hidden course let’s move on to the next step: manually enrolling students.
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How to Enroll Students Manually
Now that you have set up a Private or Hidden course, you can manually enroll students who do not have direct access to your course. Here’s how to invite and manually enroll students in a Private or Hidden course on Thinkific:
- From your Thinkific Admin Dashboard, go to “Support Your Students” and select “Users.”
- Select those who want to participate in your Private or Hidden course from the list of existing users by clicking the box next to their names.
- If your students are not on the list of existing users, click the “+ New User” button and fill out their details.
The Enrollments section is at the bottom of the “New User” page. This part is where you manually enroll your student in a Hidden or Private course.
- Once done, click “Enroll” to confirm enrollment.
And just like that – your students can now access your Private or Hidden course!
Tips for Managing Student Enrollment
- Keep track of who you have manually enrolled and who has accepted your invitation to enroll.
- Regularly review your course enrollments to ensure that only the intended students can access your course.
- Consider setting up access expiration dates for your course so that students lose access after a specified period.
- Use Thinkific’s email notifications to remind students of upcoming course deadlines or to notify them of new course content.
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Other Ways to Restrict Access to a Course
Aside from Private and Hidden courses, Thinkific offers other options for restricting access to your course content. Here are some of the alternative methods you can use:
Password Protection
With password protection, you can assign a unique password to your course and only provide it to students who have paid or registered for it.
Pros: It’s a quick and simple way to restrict access to your course without requiring much setup time. You can easily change the password as needed.
Cons: It’s not the most secure method, as anyone with a password can access your course content. Additionally, managing password access can be tedious if you have many students.
Membership Sites
With membership sites, you can restrict access to your course content to paying members with unique login and password.
Pros: Membership sites offer more security than password protection, as each member has unique login credentials. You can also offer additional benefits to members, such as community access or exclusive content.
Cons: Setting up a membership site can be more time-consuming and technically complex than other access restriction methods. Additionally, you may need to pay for additional software or plugins to create and manage your membership site.
Considering these alternative methods, you can choose the best access restriction method for your course and student needs. Whether you opt for Private or Hidden courses, password protection, or membership sites, Thinkific offers a range of options for controlling who has access to your course content.
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Conclusion
In this article, we’ve covered how to manually enroll students in Private or Hidden courses on Thinkific. We’ve also discussed the advantages of using these types of courses and alternative methods for restricting access to course content.
To summarize:
- Private courses are visible to everyone, but only enrolled students can access the content.
- Hidden courses are not visible on your course site, and only enrolled students with a direct link can access the content.
- To set up a Private or Hidden course, navigate to the course settings and select the appropriate option under “Access.”
- To manually enroll students, you can invite them to enroll in the course or add them directly from the student dashboard.
- Other methods for restricting access to course content include password protection and membership sites.
By using Private or Hidden courses, you can create a more exclusive and personalized learning experience for your students. You can control who can access your course content and create a sense of community among your enrolled students.
Overall, Thinkific offers a range of options for controlling access to your course content. You can create a successful online course that meets your goals and objectives by choosing the right method for your course and student needs.