Personal Classes

There are four types of classes to make use of in Steppit. Each provides a unique way to release your course material and mentor your students. They are Personal, Flexible, Intake and Open.

Here we’ll be diving into the Personal type, with a great user case from Leiths School of Food and Wine.

Summary: Small, drip-fed classes

Content unlocks weekly, and students can post their work to receive feedback and message their class. Perfect for small, highly engaged classes.

‘Personal’ type features:

• Drip-fed course content – each week, a new course unit is unlocked for learners
• Private posting feed – includes a photo upload posting feed shared only with that class
• Class chat – group chat private to the class
• Limited spaces – up to 40 students per class
• Medium level of teacher support required – A group chat and posting feed mean teachers can anticipate a good level of activity in a class like this. Drip-fed content means students can’t skip ahead and ask for support on different topics, they are all moving through the content at roughly the same pace, helping you better focus your time!

Pros

• High opportunity for learner engagement in a private posting feed and group chat
• Higher retention since drip-fed content helps set the pace and keep learners on track

Cons 

• More class activity requires more time to respond to messages and provide students feedback.

Use Case

Leiths School of Food and Wine, based in London, use ‘Personal’ type classes for all of their online cookery courses as it’s a fantastic way of emulating their intimate and professional classroom cooking experience, in an online environment. 

The ‘Basics to Baker’ course opens a new class for just 10 online students on the 4th of every month. The course runs for 12 weeks and each week a new unit unlocks with a different baking theme with 1-3 sessions for the student to complete each week.

A different Leiths mentor is assigned per class that starts. The mentor introduces themselves and welcomes the class on the group chat when the class begins and each week moving forward introduces the new baking theme and challenges that will be undertaken. Students must upload two images of their bake at the end of every session.

Every week, the mentor provides detailed feedback on each bake, looking at the rise and presentation from the first image submitted and the texture and crumb of the bake from the second, once the student has cut into their bake.

Students can chat to each other, like each other’s images, provide support and encouragement and post additional images of their baking at any point. Because they are all cooking the same things each week, there is always a huge amount of interaction between the students as they switch notes on subbing certain ingredients and where to source certain items. It’s wonderful to see some staying in touch when the course ends to keep up with each other’s professional news.

For more questions that students may feel bashful to ask in front of the group, or to receive support and feedback for a bake that has gone wrong, there is a private chat function that can be used between each student and the mentor.

At the end of the course, the mentor checks that for every student, every session photo has been uploaded and feedback provided. Then the course certificate can be issued.