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  • guitar lessons via a distance learning College

I work for a distance learning College called College SA. It's like UNISA and Intec meaning that you study via the post. We offer a lot of different courses and most common accreditation is a certificate level course. Some of our courses are what we call provider based courses meaning that the qualification is not accredited by an Education body. However, the College has found that a lot of people tend to apply for these courses since students see it as adding knowledge to a hobby.

Taking that in mind, recently my co workers came to a show that my band played. A week later, they asked me if I was interested in creating a distance learning course for basic guitar playing. From a academic side, they stated that the requirements should be the following:
1. A syllabus with theory work
2. Assessments as to evaluate students performance
3. Any mode of interactivity between student and College

I have fulfilled these requirements with some creative thinking and it is definitely possible. The difference between this course and buying a book and/or dvd is that the College (although it is distance learning) will interact with students, making the support factor not a problem. Hence, students that do the guitar course will have a textbook, interactive DVD and learner support form the College.

Right; now that you have the background information, here is my question! Do you guys think this will work? I have asked quite a few people and guitarists about this and they seemed to like the idea. The course will focus on basic guitar playing i.e. strumming, major and minor notes, applying both the latter mentioned, etc. Students will have a DVD lesson (as in youtube videos) and their assessment will be to write songs and record them (still deciding on this). I will also include a few songs to practice with.

If you guys can just give me your opinion on this it would be much appreciated. Do you think this will work? And do you think a person who wants to learn guitar might do such a course?

PS - Alan, if this in the wrong thread area, sorry man!
    Right place, but be careful not to overstep the line into advertising the service (it's borderline already), 'cos then I'll have to put my hat on and smite you.
      Depends on the cost. The internet is great for free video lessons and basic Learn to Play type books are also plentiful and not too expensive. So your costing will have to be spot-on. Also, have em pay in advance Might sound negative, but most beginners quit easily, so your completion/graduation % will probably be low. Personally, I would prefer a live form of tuition, but who knows, maybe theres a market.
        I'm not much for distance learning, but my question about this would be about evaluation of progress.
        I'm assuming that you'd want students to send recordings (and maybe even videos) for evaluation, so are you assuming that everyone signing up would have the facility and the knowledge to make a recording?
          Alan Ratcliffe wrote: Right place, but be careful not to overstep the line into advertising the service (it's borderline already), 'cos then I'll have to put my hat on and smite you.
          sorry man, not trying to do that at all. I just want your opinion and if you guys think this will work. Added that "marketing info" to explain where I am coming from.

          Sorry! :sorry: :sorry:
            chris77 wrote: Depends on the cost. The internet is great for free video lessons and basic Learn to Play type books are also plentiful and not too expensive. So your costing will have to be spot-on. Also, have em pay in advance Might sound negative, but most beginners quit easily, so your completion/graduation % will probably be low. Personally, I would prefer a live form of tuition, but who knows, maybe theres a market.
            I agree fully with the Price issue. But that is not up to me though. (will try and put in a word for our future guitar brothers and sister! hehe). It's true what you say about the quitting thing. Maybe a motivational thing? One idea I had was to use something like video calling/Skype! Hence you can show the person directly over a webcam what their query might be!
              RobK wrote: I'm not much for distance learning, but my question about this would be about evaluation of progress.
              I'm assuming that you'd want students to send recordings (and maybe even videos) for evaluation, so are you assuming that everyone signing up would have the facility and the knowledge to make a recording?
              That is easy though. Although you might lose quite a few students, you can start off by stating that the course requirements is that you have a PC, , internet, DVD player, (all those technical stuff) etc. What I have also learned is that if you really want to, you will make a plan i.e. use a friends PC etc. Studios are not always that hard to find either. (i recorded with a band once in Fishershaven - a small village west of Hermanus!) But lets say they do not have these facilities, they can go old school and use a tape recorder or even a video camera. Remember, this will only be a beginners course, and they even might know someone who can help them.

              regarding the evaluation, i was thinking of a tab structure like you get on www.tabcrawler.com. It's easy to use and I am not going to teach them to read music. Just the basics.

                The webcam thing could work. I know there are a number of people teaching this way overseas where high speed internet connections are freely available. If you want to go this route, you'd have to take into consideration that there may be students who don't have a connection that is capable of properly streaming video. Some might not have internet access at all.
                  RobK wrote: The webcam thing could work. I know there are a number of people teaching this way overseas where high speed internet connections are freely available. If you want to go this route, you'd have to take into consideration that there may be students who don't have a connection that is capable of properly streaming video. Some might not have internet access at all.
                  that is true. but ja, like i said, you just state that the student has to have internet access and a webcam to do this course. you might loose a lot of potential students, but that is not my problem, that is up to sales! hehe!

                  Thanks to all who have contributed so far. keep those comments coming please! I really appreciate the input and help!

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