Online University

[KI4JGT]

Hey guys,
I know you guys are probably tired of hearing about http://www.smashindex.com however, I was wanting to open an online ham university. It's not called that LOL, but I need teachers. I also need help writing the course. I want the course to go completely from a tech to an extra license. Later I am looking into adding other courses such as ARES and a few others, but for now, I'm just wanting a tech through extra class.

All teachers will be paid, I can't say how much, I don't know how many people will sign up for the class. or the quality of the class due to the fact that I don't know how good you guys teach. I have setup the university, but don't want to publish it until I get at least one other teacher besides myself.

It has been a while since I've went into the mechanics of radio and how it actually works, so I'm reading up as I type this. No I did not just study the question pools before I took my tests. I actually did study how radio works. Anyone else who actually studied please contact me, if you're interested and we can go from there. Thanks and 73.

P.S. I'm thinking $5 per course. Like
$5 for Tech - Extra (One course as stated above)
$5 for ARES
$5 for You name it.
You get the picture.

[KI4JGT]

Questions have been posed about refunds and what this service offers. It offers live assistance from a tutor. Basically, you will be able to chat with your tutor live during your course. The tutor will be able to assist you with questions you may have about the amateur service.

Secondly, since you are paying for the teacher's services and not the content of the course, there are generally not going to be any refunds. (There are always special cases in these types of things.)

[N6EY]

It's already being done by the ARRL.  They have ARECC L1-3, license classes, etc.  The course content has been laid out and refined, and they use a professional content delivery service.

I would say your idea, while noble, might have some pretty tough obstacles to come to fruition. 

Given the amount of work to duplicate what's already been done elsewhere, do you think you could capture enough interest on the part of both students and instructors to make it worth their time, as well as yours?

[AA4HA]

For consistency you would need to develop a series of course templates (like in PowerPoint) and then have your instructors stick to the format. To pull together a 30-40 slide PowerPoint with good content can take several days. Also in a class you need a way to interact with your students like with GoToMeeting or Cisco WebEx. There is a limit to how many students you can teach at any one time (and remain effective).

I have been doing this sort of instruction on communications theory for almost ten years and it is not an easy thing to pull together materials with graphics that actually convey the message. Typically the optimal class size is somewhere less than 20 participants. Beyond that point and you cannot be effective in addressing questions that come up (either through text messaging or if you used a conference call #).

Some instructors will "teach the test" and I believe that this is doing a disservice to amateur radio as it does not teach the breadth of skills necessary to be somewhat proficient with any of the license classes. Once you get into the extra class you will have 80% of your participants totally lost when you delve into some of the theory behind even what is on the test.

I like your idea but agree with the other posting about why would you want to duplicate what is already being done by the ARRL and several other organizations.

Now there are some that I would love to participate in myself. Too late that LB Cebik is SK, he would have been a great lecturer. The same goes for some of the other stars of amateur radio and communications engineering.

Tisha Hayes
AA4HA

[KE4DRN]

hi,

Many Radio Clubs offer tech and general classes for the cost of the textbook
and the VEC test fee.  Our club has classes twice a year.

Yes, Dr. Cebik was a great guy, his articles are available to anyone at

www.cebik.com  (no cost registration, keeps out the riff raff and site downloaders).

73 james