Course Fee Plan

The central policy of the Course Fee Plan is that the costs for courses will be disconnected directly from dollars, and associated with "points."

People can purchase points.  Customers of Vibrant Life can "earn" points through their product purchases.  Tentatively I would award one point for each dollar of payment for Vibrant Life products (those created by Vibrant Life, not purchased elsewhere and sold by us).  This would have a "starting date" with probably no award for past purchases.

Vibrant Life has a "referral program" with prizes, but no cash awards.  This referral program is yet to be activated.  Some "referral prizes" can consist of points toward the registration for eCourses.

People can purchase points as a gift for others.  Or, they could "give away" the points they have earned by purchase of products or various activities within the referral program.

Vibrant Life Staff members can be given points at no charge, assuming that Vibrant Life wants its own staff to become more knowledgeable about Company Policies and general health information.  These points would not be transferable to a non-staff member.

When and as other commercial firms want to use the Learning Management System in use here they could sell or award points in whatever fashion they wish, but probably for ease of administration they would have to agree, at least, to a "point payment" method.  That way they could sell or award points in any way they wish, and "deposit" points into the account of one of their students.

The Learning Management System, then, can be structured to deal with "points" as the method of registering for eCourses. 

At this moment I do not see the eCourses as an independent profit center, but an activity which enhances the understanding of people in the Vibrant Life products and results in increased sales and referral activity.   Thus, "sales" of eCourses is not a central focus of this activity -- but simply smooth administration of the system of courses.

The standard of point value will be the "Dictionary Usage Course," consisting of some 72 different "segments" (both study and quiz segments).  This needs further thought, but the preliminary plan is to assign a value of 1000 points to the Dictionary Usage Course.  It is probably one of the longest that would be offered.  Other courses would be designed to take less time and cover less subject matter.  Another view of standardness is that the Dictionary Usage Course probably includes at least 400 unique questions within the small study segments. The Review Quizzes generally consist of ALL the questions asked on the "chunks" of study text.  Thus, the final quiz for the entire course consists of some 400 previously asked questions, with 20 of them selected at random, with the questions and the answers shuffled in sequence, and still with the 5x100% score requirement.

It remains to be seen after we have had some actual experience, but my current estimate is that it will take a motivated student at least 20 hours to complete the Dictionary Usage Course.

When a subject now covered on the web, such as "plaque" is considered, we must start with an acknowledgment that it would be the equivalent of several Dictionary Usage Courses in length, so must be broken down into logical shorter courses. The same would apply to "diet."

For instance, it would not be practical to have one course on "diet" but it would be possible to have a single course on "What is a protein?"  Many of these smaller courses could be grouped into a "suite" of courses, or some other descriptive word that fits.

The Dictionary Usage Course is so vital to the success of any study that anyone who successfully completes that course would then be eligible for a discount on the registration for any other course.  It is not only vital, but my estimate is that an "ordinary" person might register for this course and if it had no cost at all, would quit very early in the experience. 

Let there be no question.  I, Karl Loren, think of this Dictionary Usage Course as the key to improved life in many different ways, yet I also believe that many people will not see this value in advance, but only after successful completion of the course.  Incidentally, "successful" completion would certainly not involve any form of cheating on the course -- it is NOT the passing scores which deliver the benefit, but the learning and practical experience which, hopefully, is measured by the passing scores.

This course demands of the student a newly-developed level of personal integrity and acceptance of "study rules" that he might well "duck out of" if he had nothing to lose.  The idea here is to require a rather large advance payment for this course, and make it clear that there is no refund.  SUCCESS in completing the course, then, can result in a substantial reward, as described just below.  At some point certificates of accomplishment, even trophies, can be given out for successful completion of various courses.

As a preliminary estimate, I am inclined to "price" one "course point" at $ .25 each. Thus, it would cost $250 to purchase 1,000 points, the cost of the Dictionary Usage Course.

I view that one course as so central to the success of the entire eCourse concept that I plan to offer that course for the 1,000 points, thus meaning that a prospective student would pay $250 in cash for that course.  This would be well publicized as "not refundable."

Then, when someone has successfully completed the Dictionary Usage Course he receives Vibrant Life products (those created by Vibrant Life -- not by others and sold by Vibrant Life) of his choice with the retail value of $600.  For an existing customer of Vibrant Life this means that by "investing" $250 and completing the course, he can get $600 worth of vitamins for his $250 investment -- vitamins that he would have otherwise paid as much as $600 for!

Vibrant Life customers normally earn at least a 25% discount by purchase of four bottles rather than one for some product.  (There are larger discounts for large purchases -- but the maximum discount, earned by few, is 40%.)  But even when the customer compares his "discounted cost" with the benefit of completing the Dictionary Usage Course, he should be motivated to pay cash for the course as a means of buying his usual Vibrant Life products at a discount he could not get in any other way.

I have decided that this $600 award can NOT be attained with points that were "earned" or received as a gift, etc., as contrasted with points that were purchased.  My feeling on this is that the student must have something very personal to him that he will lose if he does not complete the course.  If he receives the points "for free" he will not have the probably necessary incentive for completing the course.  He could pay for the Dictionary Usage Course with earned points, but would not be then eligible for the $600 award.

Even if "daddy" pays cash for "junior" to do this course, I would not be optimistic about the results.  This course demands of the student a degree of commitment that is almost totally missing from today's students.  I want the student to pay for this course out of his own money -- money that he could have spent on anything else.  I won't be able to detect if "daddy" pays, but I can certainly still publicize THIS opinion I hold, as a warning to "daddy."

Tentatively I plan to offer a 50% discount on any course costs for anyone who has successfully completed the Dictionary Usage Course.  The PHP and MySQL features of this Learning Management System should allow for this rule.

Thus, the "What is a protein?" course could have a regular price of, say, 100 points or only 50 points to anyone who has successfully completed the Dictionary Usage Course.  Probably 100 points would be the minimum price for any course, with 1000 points being the maximum.

I would rather start out with a higher price and reduce it than try to increase the price.  I think the usage here will build only slowly, and will get substantial only when I have say 20 different eCourses to offer.  I can also offer "specials" on courses to test lower prices.  Also, initially I don't expect to have this system fully automated. When it becomes fully automated I can afford to lower the fees.