Online training - need your feedback

[classixuk]

Hi everyone,

I'm after some feedback.

A couple of months ago I helped out in the hair forum with explaining how hair colour theory works and a few people suggested I should hold some online training courses as I explained things really well :o

This wasn't the first time this has been suggested to me and I've been mulling it over for while. I already run an academy where we teach and award upto NVQ Level 4 and also train up assessors awards for those wanting to get into teaching. We receive a lot of enquiries from both the UK and abroad and I believe we're good at what we do. I do understand though that for a considerable amount of people both the cost and time of courses can be prohibitive - some of our courses require you to be in the academy for upto 6 weeks - and this means not only paying for the course, but paying for accomodation and supporting yourself through that period too. It runs into thousands of pounds so isn't accessible to everyone.

Whilst we obviously can't assess NVQ's online, I have noticed that a fair few of our enquiries are from people who have already qualified at level 2 or 3 already but feel as if they don't have the complete knowledge or theory to give them the confidence in understanding how things work.

I thought that perhaps some short online courses would be a good option for those who don't have the time to attend an academy for weeks or months on end. I would use all of the worksheets etc. that we currently use in the academy to teach the NVQ's up to level 4 so the training would be the same - think of it like "The Open University" for hairdressing.

So here are my questions that I'm hoping you can answer:

1. What type of courses should we work on developing first? We can do everything from advanced hair colouring theory to salon management, bridal hair to online marketing etc. What would be the essentials you think would be best? What types of courses would you like to do online?

2. How much would you expect to pay for an online course in say Advanced Hair Colour Correction? How long would you expect the course to take?

3. Seeing as we'll be delivering NVQ based content, there could be an additional option (after completing the course) of obtaining an NVQ Award as well as a diploma if you visited the center to sit 'practical exams' for a period of say 4 days. Is this something that would interest people, or should we just stick to the online learning with diploma at the end?

4. What do you think of the idea in general?

Many thanks.

 

[missreid]

I think this is a brilliant idea as many people that are 'qualified' on this forum still do not know a thing about the general rules of colouring. This is not their fault, I thinking colleges cram everything in too quickly.

I would definitely recommend people to your training after advice I have seen you give on here. x

 

[classixuk]

Wow MissReid, thanks for the amazing compliment.

The thing is, I need an idea of how much the market will pay. I know it seems awful thinking about money, but to deliver the type of training I think is required it means me investing a good amount of money in transferring everything we currently teach into an online format.

Lessons would have to be professionally filmed, edited, placed on a server etc., all of our powerpoint files would need to be converted into flash, our worksheets and activity sheets made into .pdf's etc. We have all the resources needed to teach through to NVQ Level 4 and above - we'd just need to spend the time and cash on converting them into an online environment for every course we teach.

I'd love to do it but first I'd need to know which courses are required by the people who would take the courses from home/in-salon. For instance, I could spend an age converting all of our Level 4 Salon Management coursework and classes, only to discover that what people really wanted was Level 4 Hair Colour Theory and Correction - or Brazilian Blowdries - or Preparing to become an assessor etc.

The other thing is that none of this is cheap. I'd love to give it all away for nothing but that's likely to lead to the site being bankrupted within months. LOL.

I wonder how much people would think is reasonable to pay for an indepth online course on say advanced hair colour correction and techniques lasting 3 weeks? And which courses would be the best to develop first?

 

[missreid]

I don't know what to say about price. It's really hard. I'd look at what other companies charge, even for a one day course just for ideas.
I think from looking at some of the posts on here advanced colouring and colour correction would be the priority. It doesn't seem to be technique, it's mostly colour theory, not knowing about which peroxide to use!
Good luck x

 

[classixuk]

Thanks Miss Reid,
I'm inclined to agree that an interactive hair colour theory course would be good.
In our own salons we use a software that I wrote where you simply state what the hair looks like (say a 7.3) and where you want to end up (say 10.1) and it gives you a step by step of what to do, what to mix, how long to leave it on for etc. so that you can't go wrong.
Maybe I should give it away free with the course?