The problem here is that the total number of students as shown by the e-mail notification remains unchanged in several e-mails. It happens due to the nature of online applications where data are written to one database server and data reads are performed on other servers which periodically refresh data by getting it from the write server.
Even the data shown to the instructors is lagging behind as shown in the screenshot above.
I also got a free online learning course published on Udemy.com, and as an instructor, and I was quite contempt with the way statistics are updated.
Just by chance I came across a simple method to figure out the accurate number of students enrolled into a course.
How to find accurate number of students enrolled in a Udemy course
The number posted in the publicly visible course listing is always accurate. Well it makes perfect marketing sense, the higher the number seen by the visitors the greater the chances that they will buy the course.
If you're logged on from one browser for example Chrome in my case, you may open Firefox or IE and put the URL of your course in there. The course listing page will open and the accurate number will be shown(at least I think so).
This is just a clever observation, maybe I'm wrong but I feel like I've found a gem! :D
PS: Link to my free course on Udemy is
https://www.udemy.com/tcpip-socket-programming-for-coders-using-csharp-net
