Skillshare requires all classes to meet a minimum level of engagement to remain on the platform. This is part of our efforts to ensure our global community of Skillshare members has access to engaging, fresh, and quality content; and to further support our teachers in finding meaningful success on the platform.

In this article:

• Why does Skillshare have a class performance requirement?
• What is the class performance requirement?
• How do I check if my class meets the class performance requirement?
• How do I know if one of my classes was removed from Skillshare search or from the platform?
• What can I do to meet this requirement?
• What can I do to reverse a decision made about my class?

Why does Skillshare have a class performance requirement?

There are a few reasons we introduced this class performance requirement (previously called the Class Engagement Requirement):

Feedback From Our Teachers and Students

A major reason we enforce this requirement is ongoing feedback from our community of teachers and students. In surveys, students often share that they love the variety of content on Skillshare but struggle to find the best classes when lower-engagement or poorly reviewed content gets in the way. Similarly, teachers have expressed concern that their classes can be harder to discover when buried beneath older or inactive ones. We believe we can improve the experience for both students and teachers by elevating engaging, high-quality content — which includes deprioritizing classes that aren't adding value for our learners.

How Class Performance Impacts Membership

Another important reason is based on data. If a student interacts with an older class that has low engagement performance, they are far less likely to keep watching other classes, renew their membership, or subscribe at all. Meanwhile, those students who take more engaging classes are far more likely to subscribe and renew as Skillshare members, and watch more classes. This tells us that if we’re not providing students with an easily accessible catalog of engaging classes, they will not see the value in subscribing. And as we all know, we want to grow the number of subscribers so they can discover the many great classes you all do offer, and thus contribute to your earnings.

Meaningful Success for Teachers

Finally and very importantly, we want to ensure teachers find meaningful success on Skillshare. We have learned that teachers find the most success — and by success we mean they reach the most students, earn the most money, feel a part of our community, and are inspired in their creative lifestyle as a result — when they commit to publishing great new classes consistently and take responsibility for marketing and promoting those classes. If a class is languishing with minimal engagement and low reviews, we know the teacher isn’t reaping benefits from that class.

What is the class performance requirement?

Your class may be no longer visible in Skillshare search results or removed from Skillshare entirely if all of the following are true:

• Your class has been on Skillshare for more than a year (at least 365 days); and
• Your class has less than a 2.5 average rating or no reviews at all, or has not received a positive review in the last 12 months; and
• In addition, your class has accrued fewer than 900 minutes watched in each month in the past year; and
• Your class has accrued fewer than 600 minutes watched total across the past 3 months (90 days).

If just one of the above criteria does not apply to your class, your class will not be subject to removal and will remain visible in search results. All classes that perform above these thresholds or have positive reviews will not be affected.

How do I check if my class meets the class performance requirement?

Explore your Class Stats to check on the recent minutes watched in your classes:

• You can see an entire history of a class’s stats in the table on the bottom of the Class Stats page.
• While in Months view, click See More at the bottom of the table to expand the whole history of the class’s stats and also see the month the class was originally published in. Visit Where can I find information on my class performance and earnings? to learn more.
• You can also check out the reviews for your class from your class stats dash. Visit Where are my class reviews displayed? if you need help finding them.

How do I know if one of my classes was removed from Skillshare search or from the platform? 

We'll reach out to you directly if one of your classes does not meet the requirement and may be removed from Skillshare search results or closed as a result. Here’s how the process will work:

1. We regularly review all classes to determine if they meet the class performance requirement.
2. If one of your classes does not meet the requirement, we will reach out to you directly at the email address associated with your teaching account to give you notice that either:

• The class will no longer be visible in Skillshare search and browse, effective immediately. What this means is the class is still live on Skillshare, and you may still earn royalties from that class. It may still be accessed by students via your teacher profile page or an external link.
• The class will be closed on the date stated in the email. When a class is closed, the class is no longer live on Skillshare and you will not earn royalties from that class. Closed classes are not deleted from Skillshare; you will be able to see it as Closed in the list of classes you're teaching on Skillshare. But it is no longer discoverable by students, in search, from your teacher profile, or via an external link. 

A few things to keep in mind:

• If one of your classes is removed from search or closed for class performance, it does not affect your other classes or your ability to continue teaching on Skillshare.
• If you feel a negative review is inaccurate, let us know by reaching out to us at teach@skillshare.com. We evaluate all reports of inaccurate or unfair reviews against our Community Guidelines.
• Please also keep in mind that our Trust & Safety team conducts regular checks for fraudulent activity (e.g. duplicate accounts for the same person watching a class to increase minutes), and any minutes accrued in this way, or through any means which violate our terms or guidelines, are regularly removed. For more information on our Trust & Safety procedures, visit Why did my minutes watched decrease?

What can I do to meet this requirement?

To meet the class performance requirement, each class will need to accrue a minimum number of minutes watched each month, maintain some viewership over the long-term, and have positive reviews. (Specific criteria is defined above.)

The great news is that there are lots of ways you can boost engagement in your classes, and it may come as no surprise that these are the same tips for finding success that we already share with our teachers!

• Craft an engaging class from the outset. Success on Skillshare starts with creating quality content, and continues with facilitating engagement with your students once the class is published. Head to our Class Quality Guidelines for our minimum requirements for crafting a quality class and to Engage Your Students for our top tips on student engagement.
• Promote your class. Consider promotion not just when your class is brand new, but also when it’s been published for some time. Wondering how to promote an older class? We’ve got heaps of great ideas in Promote Your Teaching.
• Encourage students to leave a review. You can suggest this in the outro video of your class. For more tips on how this works, visit Receive Student Reviews.
• Refer new students to your class using your referral link. This is a best practice for class marketing and promotion. If you’re new to teaching on Skillshare or to building a community online, referrals can be as simple as inviting your friends, family, and colleagues to check out your class. Refer to Where can I find my referral links? to learn how you can retrieve your referral link for your class. 

What can I do to reverse a decision made about my class?

If we’ve emailed you to let you know your class has been removed from Skillshare search results, you are encouraged to try any of the tactics above to improve the quality of your class and/or encourage students to engage again. We routinely evaluate class performance throughout the year, and if your class meets those minimum requirements, it may be included in Skillshare search results once again. We do not notify you if your class has been reinstated in Skillshare search results. 

If we have notified you that your class will be closed by a certain date due to not meeting the minimum performance requirement, you have until that date to see if you can boost engagement in the class, using the same tactics as above. If the class does not meet the performance requirement by that date, it will be closed permanently.   

If you have any questions or feedback about the class performance requirement, please reach out to us at teach@skillshare.com.