How to Foil Cheaters

Mike Lucey

Seems to me getting the classes booked is the priority...everything else is just trivial. Having others listen in for free is only a loss when you have no bookings to look forward to.

This makes a lot of sense .... trees .... forrest ..... trees .....

sorgesu

It is a priority. Not giving it away for free is a second priority.
No one selling a product or service sells one and gives away 6 for free. If one is able to take steps to prevent the 6 from taking the product, it is prudent to do so.
Having 6 paying customers singing your praises is better than 6 non paying customers singing your praises.

I was asking not for platitudes, but for opinions to help out with what any one should readily understand as an undesirable situation,

sorgesu

.....trivial??, .....trees??? ....nice!!

sorgesu

just pointing out a surfeit of disses therefore breaking point reached

todd burch

Who needs a vocabulary class when we have Susan! surfeit, nonplussed... wow.

sorgesu

Thanks Todd.

Bruce, this is not the first thread I have seen where you have been disrespectful and then claimed offence when others react to your attitude. You can do whatever you please but in my book you are being rather pugnacious.

pmiller

@sorgesu said:

Thanks Todd.

Bruce, this is not the first thread I have seen where you have been disrespectful and then claimed offence when others react to your attitude. You can do whatever you please but in my book you are being rather pugnacious.

Cheers, Susan

Mike Lucey

Oppps ! Looks like I may have hit a nerve I still stand
by my comment though. The concentration should be on getting
bookings not worrying if you are being listened to by more
than the contracted number.

For the time being it would appear that you cannot determine
who is listening in, so its best to forget about it. Make as
much as you can with what you have. Then buy better technology
which will allow you to monitor the situation and control the
freeloaders.

Here is something that you may consider. The Revenue Commissioners
here in Ireland have a policy when interviewing a tax payer
undergoing a Tax Audit.

At the start of the interview the Tax Inspector asks a simple
question that often gets results. It goes like (never happened
to me ) 'Do you have anything that you wish to disclose prior
to this audit?' It gets good results for the Tax Man as quite
often the interviewee owns up and discloses stuff that the Tax
Man had no idea about.

Susan, when you start your session I suggest that you might consider
reading a short statement and require your Trainee(s) to agree to
the terms. Doing this verbally has much more impact that written
contracts, believe me! You could also keep it light-hearted and
fun. Maybe explain that background comments can spoil the overall
experience unless they are part of the session.

Also point out that you 'tailor' your input to the individual
that you are listening to. If there are more you can also take
their levels of understanding and expertise into account for a
better end result.

People are basically honest but often will go for a freebie if
they think there is a slim possibility of being caught.

Mike

sorgesu

Mike, you actually make some really valuable suggestions and I thank you for latest input.

Now c'mon. Why do you think you need to tell me that concentrating on sales is more important than concentrating on avoiding theft? Do you really think that any other concern at all precludes the ability to concentrate my efforts on sales?
I know you very well Mike and, given that you and I had already had a discussion on this at length, your comment didn't give me offense. You are such a laissez-faire kind of guy you often don't even recognize a slight. I know that. It is just that it intensified an unwelcome comment that I had hitherto intended to ignore.

Bruce had an interesting point with respect to his experience with lurkers. However, discussion continued on the subject with many people offering suggestions that directly addressed my problem. His information and experience were interesting, but by no means should it have been expected to be the last word on the subject. That experience does not negate the issue. So suddenly interrupting the flow of suggestions with a comment that both trivializes and belittles was uneccessary. It wasn't overt, to be sure but it was nonetheless obvious. And my recogniton of such wasn't cause for a defensive World War 3. I indicated that I understood the subtle dig and gave a subtle dig in kind. Sometimes people don't realize how clear their intentions are when they think they are being very subtle and don't even admit to themsleves that their intention was not innocent.

So what I thought was Bruce's humerous response to my "surfeit" comment and was indicative of self-realization, if not an apology and that there was tit for tat, cause and effect, in my earlier response to his comment, was apparently not so. It wasn't humour and there was no self-realization.

I appreciate evereyone's input. There have been some really helpful comments and it was indeed good to have this venue to gather the info. Best to put it to rest now.

Mike Lucey

'laissez-faire'? Had to look it up! Yes you may
be right Susan. It helps to get me by

linea

Interesting thread,

I actually wrote a really long reply a few days ago but my internet connection died and I lost it so here is an abbreviated version:

Susan, as a former college tutor myself I can completely understand your annoyance that people are attending class without paying the course fees! They couldn't do that in a physical college so I agree it isn't fair that people are exploiting you over the net.

No you don't have the "classroom" overheads, but that's irrelevant, college students don't get 1 to 1 tuition, their lucky if there is less than 30 in a class. Also as you are an experienced architectural professional I'm sure your course is more beneficial too.

The critics in this thread should consider that a teacher is only getting paid when their with their class. To deliver one hour of quality teaching takes an average of two hours preparation - producing learning materials, setting objectives, writing schemes of work and most importantly - evaluating quality. I stress the last point because it's a business like any other.
There is a big difference between the boss that stand's behind a student to evaluate the quality of the training and the cheap, lazy boss that thinks "Great, free training for my whole workforce".
There is a saying that goes something like "a student only understands and remembers 70% of what they see but 95% of what they do". The quality and reputation of your training is seriously diminished by the adhoc crowd that stands and watches behind the one paying student. When the freeloaders get back to their desks they will have only a superficial understanding of the subject.

I don't know how you solve the problem Susan but I just want to let you know I can understand how infuriating it is. Bloody freeloaders!

Roger

It is 2:44 Am so I will make this short. Someone correct me if i am wrong, but I believe MIT is giving away all its classes for free in a web version.

Of course, you can not claim a degree from there without paying. What this does is get people into the educational stream at MIT where they can then prove the the school and the themselves that they are a good fit for an MIT degree.

Sure some folks will get some free value, but in the long run everyone will win as it is just a shell game as to were the profit/revenue is taken. What is does for MIT is show their knack for innovation, leadership, and ability to attract the best of the best.

How many web models are there where people are making millions either reducing cost ofr giving things away. I have a Gillette razor that they sent me for free. Of course, if I buy just five blades I could have a years worth of BIC disposables.

Don't know if lateral thinking applies to this situation, but it may be better than slapping each other around.

linea

Hi Roger

MIT, Tufts and some other universities do offer free open source learning courses but Susan is an individual trying to make a living.

Roger

Well actually the schools don't give away much. They just let you take the course, but if you want credit for it then you need to pay the fee.

So instead of fighting the problem headon I was trying to suggest that maybe there might be a way to redirect the forces at work. LEts say Sue had a website called
"Magna Cum Laude graduates of the Sue School of Architectural Illustration". So if you are a registered graduate of the course your best work and your CV can be posted in a gallery receiving international attention.

So suddenly a lot of people are sneaking into her class. However, low and behold they find they learned something and they are becoming pretty good. Now they have no doubt about their skills, they would like them seen and certified to. Since they did not pay they can not been seen on Sue's architectural rendering site. So they pay for the course retroactively and now they are part of a respected gallery/showplace.

I am just suggesting there might be more to gain from channeling human nature than fighting it head on. Not sure of the validity, but am just trying to float a concept.

When I hit a brick wall I always like to back off and think about more productive approaches and study elegant solutions to similar problems.