Re: How to start your own Correspondence Course...

Hi Gordon,

> You need some information that people want
> and are already paying for. How to find it?

> Yesterday I spent my two hours of sucking
> dust mites in the Akron Library doing some
> EZ research.

> I checked in two magazines, FATE and NEW
> AGE...got the current issue, got Jan/Feb/Mar
> of 2001/2000/1999...

> and COMPARED ads. If a company was running
> an ad for the entire time, I went back FIVE
> years to see if it was running an ad all
> that time.

> Many were. It told me people are RESPONDING
> to the ad. So, I sent away to a few of the
> listings to find out what PROMOTION they
> were going to send me back. I know that it
> is making them money, somehow, or else they
> are just nuts about advertising.

> Anyhow, YOU can do the exact same thing for
> any interest or passion you have. Like to
> fish? There are a dozen magazines on
> fishing. Get the current issue, go back a
> year, then two years and compare the ads
> that are running.

Thanks Gordon, by the way, regarding the correspondence school ad I mentioned earlier (here in Oz), I sent away for the info so I'm interested to see what I'll get.... :)

Personally, I really love the idea of having corrspondence courses. I guess I just enjoy being in education to some degree.... It's nice to be able to share whatever knowledge you may have with others.... :)

> Do the same for anything that interests you.
> We call it research. Now I'd be willing to
> bet just about anyone that I can find a
> CORRESPONDENCE course on just about any
> topic or interest.

> And if I can't, then I can find the
> opportunity to do one.

> Think about it. You'll need a MASTER set of
> the course, that you can print on demand. It
> isn't too much different than a newsletter,
> except you can start lesson ONE at anytime,
> and have a continuity program...where you
> charge the credit card or wait for the next
> check to arrive before you send out the next
> lesson.

> NOW, you've got to offer some sort of
> CERTIFICATE. When you take a class at New
> Horizons Computer Training Center, you walk
> out with a nice certificate you can frame
> and hang on your wall.

YES, I think this is an important part! It's a big benefit for people to be able to point to the certificate on their wall and say to their friends, "Look what I've achieved!"

I think that's immense added value, and it takes so little extra to add it to a course.... :)

> So, you have a subject that you know well,
> or can research on, then you put together
> lessons, then you offer a FREE lesson, maybe
> via classified ads (how about that place
> that you get millions of readers for only
> 180 bucks...to test in).

> So, does anyone have any thing to add? I
> think there is a lack of knowledge on the
> correspondence course.

> And for you Dien, here is a little something
> of interest too:

> **************
> Dr. John Smith, physics professor, and how
> he's been "teaching" via CC since
> 1968. From ">

Gordon, thanks for this article.... I found it interesting too....

Yes, the thought of offering a physics-based correspondence course DID cross my mind! I'll have to see what Dr. John Smith and his buddies are doing.... :)

- Dien