I was just looking to buy some online classes. I haven’t bought one yet and here’s three ideas I think online course sellers should follow to get more customers:-
- Telephone courses – it’s the world-wide web, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I want to make an international telephone call for the course. If the course includes a teleconference, publish the area code(s) so I can include the cost of my calls when budgeting, please. Even better, offer a local (UK) number or Voice-Over-IP (VOIP, or internet phone) access for SIP phones, so it won’t cost me extra.
- Web classes – web browsers have plugins, but not all web browsers have all plugins and sometimes I’d prefer to watch your video stream on my TV instead. That’s easy if it’s a video stream I can load in a standalone player (I can even remote-control some players with my bluetooth phone), but it’s a right pain if it requires Adobe Flash, locked down with javascript, DRM and so on. Make video streams that can be used in Videolan or MPlayer, please.
- Web classes – if a class uses its own special downloadable program (even if it’s Java), then it’s not a web class. Please make the class usable in a web browser and please publish a small test class so I can make sure my browser works before the class starts.
- Ordering systems – one site gave me no fewer than three big red error messages while I was trying to buy. The first said the site requires Javascript. I changed that setting, pressed back and re-ordered, then the second big red error said it requires cookies . I changed that setting, then it said it needed Internet Explorer. I closed the Firefox/Iceweasel window and gave up. Please test your ordering system and show a full list of system requirements as soon as there’s an error, to avoid wasting my time.
Are there any good online course providers out there which do all of the above?