Hands Online - Classes

[dusty]

When should I start negotiating with the "director of finance" (aka SWMBO) for funding. What funding"? The funding required for tuition to the Hands Online classroom sessions.

I had been cleared for classes in August and September but enrollment never opened.

Are these classes still in the making or have the Sawdust Sessions taken their place?

[Bruce]

I don't know the answer to your question, but what is SWMBO? I keep seeing it and I know to whom it refers, but can't figure out the acronym. Of course, if it's not fit to print, that's fine.

[dusty]

Bruce

Important off-topic topic: She Who Must Be Obeyed

[kd6vpe]

Bruce,
Thank you for asking that question. I also hate to admit my ignorance to these new IM acroynms. I miss the old letters that spelled out the words and were hand written. Thank you

[Nick]

Dusty, our "beta" (read "start-up" or "experimental") period for our interactive web seminars and classes has lasted longer than expected. I can see now that it was way too ambitious for us to try to start up both the Sawdust Sessions and the classes at the same time. There were just too many things to be learned, skills to be gained, and procedures to nail down. Drew and I are just now beginning to understand how to deliver a webcast that offers reasonably good video and audio quality. Last Saturday's Sawdust Session went off without a technical gliche (except for the dead batteries in my mike) and, for the first time since we set out on this adventure, we know why! That is to say, we now know just enough to steer clear of the most obvious blunders and deliver something that's worth your time to watch.

The next step, of course, is to be able to deliver something that's worth your time and money. We are still experimenting with hardware and software to find an economical solution that will enable us to send you a decent live stream while capturing a DVD-quality recording for later use. We're very close. In the next two weeks, we'll be adding an audio compressor, video processor, and another computer to divide the tasks of recording and encoding (streaming) between two machines. This, we hope, will achieve the professional quality and reliability we need to offer classes.

Even then, I can see another wrench about to be dropped in the works. Sometime in the next two months we will be moving the Academy and rewiring the web shop/studio. During this period, it will probably be all that Drew and I can do to keep the Video Tips and Sawdust Sessions coming.
I am hoping that the sawdust will have settled enough by the first of the new year to begin over-the-Internet classes. And even then we will almost assuredly have a "beta" period as we build the knowledge, skills, and procedures we need to teach woodworking classes over this new medium without looking like idiots.

Remember, Dusty, for the time being it's just Drew and I trying to get over this mountain. We're getting there; we can see some real progress in just three months. It's taking longer than any of us would have hoped, but we're still on track if not on time. When we finally arrive, you'll be among the first to know.

With all good wishes,