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Created on: 02 July, 2009 Members: 34337 | Community Link: http://e-teaching.wiziq.com

Showing number of students for paid classes

by Marcus
Posted on 09 June, 2011

I could be wrong, but it seems like the number of students is hidden for paid classes.  I don't recall seeing the number, only for free classes.  I can understand why teachers wouldn't want the students' names listed or shown, but it might help to show the number.  Start it with 0 instead of nothing. 

I have considered signing up for classes in the past, but I didn't know how many were already registered.  If I wanted a small class there is no way of knowing, and if there are many students maybe it is better to sign up later.  So, in the end a student may not sign up if they are unsure of the number of students who have already signed up.

by EFL Campus posted on 12 June, 2011
Anne, I am not doing paid courses but have been doing a lot* of paid classes with students who hadn't heard of WizIQ before I brought them here. I did lose one after our trial class: he has been class-hopping ever since with the enthusiasm of a trainee plumber on a Friday-night pub-crawl (last time I checked, he'd visited well over 30 classes in less than 2 weeks). That is OK, and it was a calculated risk.

So George is right, WizIQ does not offer much in the way of establishing one's business here. It is not WizIQ's fault (or anyone's fault, for that matter); the current student demographics is what it is, and the expectations are to have free classes.

* 25 trial, about 20 or so regular in the last month
by George Machlan posted on 09 June, 2011

I think you will find that, in fact, most teachers do show the number attending.  Sadly 0 is the true number for paid classes.  As you know during one of my attempts to launch the Edupunk we made them paid classes.  For those who did work for me I gave passes which showed as paid. This was a bit deceptive as I could show any contact as paid at my pleasure.  I think that the same is possibly true for some of the current classes that show some paid students.

There is one area that is showing promise within the WizIQ teaching for profit model.  The Course offerings are having a small amount of success.  I will be trying that avenue next.

FYI I did one paid class that was successful but probably illegal.  I ran a class as a lottery.  Where all who joined the class were made part of a drawing for winning the monies collected.  That was my only truly sucessful class marketing at WizIQ.

 

by George Machlan posted on 10 June, 2011

I think the main mistake that most teachers make at WizIQ is the expectation of available paying students.  One of the only areas that I take exception to WizIQ is their marketing themselves (and us) as a Teacher ready platform with paying students.  When, in fact, we are almost the opposite. 

There is almost no way that I see any teacher being able to advertise solely on WizIQ for acquiring students.  Unfortunately, it is possibly dangerous to conduct classes publicly as the found paid students will then be exposed to free or nearly so classes by the majority of teachers here.  This dicotomy for a business person makes our portal untennable. 

My efforts have been and will continue to be to build a unique group of classes and teachers offering edutainment types of activities.  If we can create enough groundswell and interest we could look at monetizing our joint offerings as a "educational channel" thingy.  We have had several false starts (see previous Edupunk offerings) but I continue to believe this is a viable model. 

by Anne Fraser posted on 10 June, 2011
interesting! Thanks for your honesty.  Personally, I would like to limit the number of students on public classes so that I can give more time and attention to those who attend.  Also, for people viewing later it would give (I hope) a better representation of my teaching.  I am interested to know of anyone doing a paid course successfully.  The logistics of timing, how many publicity classes to do etc are getting the better of me. How many years do I need to publicise my classes for??:)
by Marcus posted on 09 June, 2011
I don't really see a problem with "stacking the deck".  If you want to chip in money into the system so a student can attend, that should be your choice.  It is no different than a professor allowing a student to attend after registration or when the class reaches its limit.  Other teachers can do the same.  Free competition.

The point is if we see the 0, reality or not, we can choose to sign up to be number 1.  If we don't see the 0, then there is no way to know if it might be 10 or 20, theoretically speaking.
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