you got questions? i got answers! how does an online class work?

The question I get asked MOST about my online courses for harpists is …

When is CLASS? Like, when do I need to actually BE there?

Before I answer – for my May 2016 “Baroque Flamenco BEYOND the Page” Course that’s the GREAT thing about online learning (and why I’m such a huge online course junkie myself!).  The main learning center is an online classroom you can get to 24/7. 

Where’s the Classroom??

The classroom is on a private student-only site where you can log in any time day or night.  You can also download audio files and PDF lessons so you can work off-line as well.

You can learn on YOUR schedule.  You can schlep in wearing pyjamas, you don’t have to tune your harp or brush your teeth –  you can pop in during a break in your workday.

That’s also why I try to break all the lessons down in to 5min to 15min segments, and why you can actually MARK each segment finished after you’ve gone through it — because I know that your life, like mine, can get fragmented. So I build the course in segments.

You can schlep in wearing pyjamas, not tune your #harp or brush your teeth Click To Tweet

The image above shows what the classroom portion of the class looks like.  This image is one page of a 9-page learning module.

When do we meet LIVE?

Once a week, there’s a live chat.  Usually it’s on Saturday or Sunday around 2pm Eastern. Only about 25% of the class comes to that live.  The rest usually send their questions in via email and then watch the replay at their own pace.

The live chat looks something like this, with the participants and the chat window on the left for people to ask questions and share their takeaways (and yes I blurred out the names – so don’t worry, you don’t need a new prescription for your glasses)

If you get behind  … don’t worry

Most people get a little (or a lot) behind – just like I do in pretty much every online course I take.  That’s NORMAL.   That’s why I build in an extra 2 weeks at the end, or catch-up weeks in the middle – so that people have a chance to catch up.

That’s also why I try to build each course so that people get the FUNDAMENTALS in the first couple lessons.  So even if they fall completely behind (because, hey – we’re grownups – and life sometimes happens that way), they get the basics right in the beginning and they can come back and fill in the gaps later.

We get behind when we learn #harp - it's normal Click To Tweet

And THAT’s why I always leave the classrooms open at least 6 months after the course is over.  Because we’re just not perfect.  We all have lives, and those lives sometimes get in the way of the new things we’re trying to add to enrich ourselves — and I want to make it as easy as possible for you to get everything I have to share with you in each class I create.

What if I can’t WAIT to ask my question???

I don’t know about you, but one of the reasons I take a CLASS or work with a teacher or coach, instead of trying to ‘figure things out’ with free online tutorials, is so I can get personal, direct answers to my questions.  That can save me hours, days – or (sometimes, in my case) YEARS of trying to find my way by myself.  That’s why I try to make several ways for students to ask questions when they have them as well as in the weekly chat.

One of those ways that people ask questions when they have them and interact live in the course – again, totally on their own timeline – is through the closed Facebook group for the course.  That way they can get answers, support or cheerleading from me, our Course Admin Mackenzie or our TA, Margi – and often from other classmates – quickly and directly.  Here’s an example of what that group looks like:

got more questions?  see the FAQs on the course info page.  or add them below.  or use my ask-a-question form (that’s another way students can ask me questions during the course – so you can start by asking one now!)

REGISTER NOW for “Baroque Flamenco BEYOND the Page!”