Online course beta testers....at my cost!

[freemotion]

I am gearing up to get my courses online. They won't be fancy, but the info will be great and you will see me talking on video! Thrill of a lifetime, huh?

So here is the scoop. I need to get my lectures all video'd and up, and some support videos done. I have a few done now, and am working the kinks out of the lecture portion (lighting, barking dogs, puking cats, all the fun of working from home!) Since it will be rough at first and I will need to re-do some of them based on feedback, I will be offering it at my cost (support materials). It is supposed to be a 12 week/12 lecture course, but I will not be able to commit to a once a week schedule...that has kept me from getting started, but I can no longer wait until life calms down. It probably won't! So I may skip a week, and then do 2-3 in one week. Ultimately, it is to be a self-paced course, but y'all will be stuck with my silly schedule limitations.

It is based on low glycemic index and some traditional eating styles. It is very self-sufficiency-compatible, too! It is NOT for vegans unless they are considering relaxing to at least ovo-lacto vegetarian. It is vegetarian-friendly, although I am definitely promoting omnivorism, I will discuss how to be as healthy as possible in today's world as a vegetarian.

This will be a basic course. I will be struggling to keep it simple and will need your help! My biggest challenge is not overwhelming my students. So if you know of someone who is ready to get healthy or wants to lose weight (this is not just about weight loss, it is about health, but weight loss is what most people who will ultimately take the course are looking for initially, so....) but is not ss but still living a typical American lifestyle and diet, please invite them, as I will need feedback from people who barely boil water, too.

The two pricing levels are still to be determined but it will be something like $30-40 for the lower level and $110-120 for the super-committed level. I hope.

I tend to lose pm's in the clutter so please hold off pm'ing me, rather, email me. I'll need your name and address eventually, so....don't hesitate to email. I do not send out anything to my entire address book, ever, so you won't start getting more sappy poems or pictures of icebergs or cute baby animals!

If all goes well on the homefront, I hope to start well before Feb is over.

Would you like to see a couple of my support videos? I did two on making chai tea, and one on making soda. When I've taught this class in the past, the biggest challenge for people on the standard American diet is what to drink. Most people can't imagine not drinking highly flavored and sweetened beverages all day....what? Water???? So I will be adding simple instructional videos to demonstrate how easy it is to make delicious and healthy hot and cold drinks.

 

[framing fowl]

I'm confused on what you are saying for the scheduling. The beta testers can only watch when you do the release or do the beta testers do it self paced as well?

 

[abifae]

I'll try to talk my step dad into it. He and my mom have very odd ideas about food, the mom lady especially. But my mom said she doesn't want to learn about food, flat out. So I'll try to hit him up And my real dad before he kills himself of a heart attack.

 

[freemotion]

Thanks, abi! And thanks for all the emails, everyone! Can still use a few more to round it out...I'll give it a few more days.

FF, as for scheduling, I think I will send out an email when a new video is up and ask you to try to watch it and respond within a few days. I won't expect you to drop everything and watch it the day it goes up, especially since the schedule will most likely be kind of erratic.

There are 12 lectures so I will ask everyone to try to get to them all, but I understand that that is asking a lot, so maybe try to limit yourself to 2 "absences?" Sound reasonable? I will try to keep each one to 30 min or less (a challenge for me! ) and if there is more I want to add, I will do it as "support videos" for each class, kind of the way I use handouts in my live classes, or homework.

What I will be mostly looking for is feedback on what you learned, what you thought the main points to remember were, if you had any questions left after (I do this with every new thing I teach, then I can adjust my teaching if a number of students have the same questions), if there was any area where you wanted more info (add a support video?) and if anything was way too annoying. My tech skills and equipment are very, very basic and I won't be changing this...no Hollywood here, so I'm not looking for anything complicated. Most of the camera work will be tripod only, which has its limitations.

Then with the support videos, you can request things if I mention something in the lecture that you know I do at home that you think would make a good instructional video, or any ideas you have at all. When I teach to the average non-ss American, I get that deer-in-the-headlights look when I mention making something at home rather than buying it ready-made. So I plan on having lots of little youtube segments showing things being done. Mostly in the kitchen stuff, but you may have some other ideas for me as we progress. Many of my students have asked for cooking classes, but the logistics just didn't lend to that...my kitchen is tiny, I even kick my dh out when I am cooking!

 

[framing fowl]

Okay, thanks! That works perfect for me!

 

[txhomegrown]

I would like to do this, but my slowwwwwwwww dial-up makes it almost impossible to watch or download long videos. I wish you luck with this, it sounds like a good idea.

 

[abifae]

My step dad is in I'm sending him your email and vice versa.

 

[freemotion]

Thank you! I just got a couple more guinea pigs from school, too!

 

[freemotion]

I would like to do this, but my slowwwwwwwww dial-up makes it almost impossible to watch or download long videos. I wish you luck with this, it sounds like a good idea.

Aw, too bad. I would offer to send you dvd's, but....hmmmmm, if you are motivated, that might not be a bad trial to do, too.....hmmmm......

 

[big brown horse]

Sadly I'm just too busy, pulled apart in a million different directions...I can't commit to ANYTHING. :/ I would have loved to take it though.