New Courses Instead of SLP? Your Thoughts Needed

Chess.com University Members:

We've been thinking about the Standard Learning Program (SLP) and are looking to revise it.

Don't know what SLP is? See: http://www.chess.com/news/standard-learning-program---august-registration-open-2623

Through the SLP, we tried offering a reduced version of the Prodigy Program. It was meant to be a program for those who are on a tight budget or are very busy and don't have time for an intense program such as our Prodigy Program.

Though in hindsight, this was not the best idea. We realized that when reduced so significantly, this "reduced version" of the Prodigy Program doesn't even remain much of a program. Since we only had two live lessons in the SLP, it became hard to follow our planned curriculum. If we covered topics thoroughly, it would take months before we would be ready to move on to a new topic. If instead we had a new topic for each lesson, the SLP would seem like a group of individual lessons mixed together.

While the SLP lessons went well this month and most students appeared to be satisfied, we are not sure about the future of this program as the format is less than ideal.

Problems with the SLP:

- With only two hours of lessons each month, students may or may not get to learn about a topic that interests them. Instructors may not be able to finish covering a particular topic in just two hour-long lessons.

- Students may like certain instructors more than others. With just two lessons each month, the students may not even get one lesson with their favorite Chess.com University instructor depending on which section they are in.

- Class sizes are not large enough. This makes sense. Students are not sure what they will be learning and who they will be learning from and since they are only getting two lessons each month, this does matter a lot. Lack of certainty leads to less students.

- The tuition rate of $35/month per student offers us little room to increase what we offer in the SLP. We cannot increase the hours of instruction from two to three, for example.

 Possible Changes:

- Instead of having a month-to-month program, we can have a sequence of individual courses that are aimed at a specific level and taught by a specific instructor.

- This way, students will have full control. Students get to choose their instructor and enroll in a course that covers an area of chess that interests them the most.

- Students may even join multiple courses. This way, their only options aren't the $150/month Prodigy Program and $35/month SLP. Students can choose a workload that falls somewhere between those two programs based on their schedule and again, be fully in-charge.

- Courses can last a longer period of time. There is no rule that requires each course to be one month long. We could have courses that are concise and we could also have courses that dive into a particular topic very deeply as run for multiple months.

Some ideas:

Course Format - Type 1: Two Months

- 8 hours of live lessons, spread out over two months.

- One study guide with homework.

- Some written material (written lectures, puzzle packets, PGN notes).

- One simul with the instructor.

- Teaching team consisting of one instructor and one assistant instructor.

- Tuition: $100 (effectively $50/month).

Course Format - Type 2: Two Months, Reduced

- 6 hours of live lessons, spread out over two months.

- One concise study guide. No other written material.

- Teaching team consisting of one instructor and one assistant instructor.

- Tuition: $70 (effectively $35/month - better version of SLP).

Compare with Prodigy Program: One Month

- 12+ hours of live lessons, also recorded. Note: this may soon be changed to  14+ hours.

- Detailed 7-page study guides sent out on most weeks.

- Depending on month, some PGNs, written lectures, puzzle packets, and bonus video lessons.

- Ability to "meet" and learn from elite players (most recently GM Alexei Shirov).

- Ability to submit two games for private emailed analysis.

- One simul.

- One or two correspondence tournaments.

- Full email support.

- Tuition: $150

Are there any other offerings you may be interested in besides the Prodigy Program and courses?

- Online camps

- Simul packages

- Single-day seminars (we already do this occasionally such as with Shirov and l'Ami in recent months).

- Recorded video series?

- Or?

Okay, so here is what we need from you. Please comment on this post and tell us your thoughts. Do you agree that individual courses, offered regularly by Chess.com University, would better suit your needs and wants than the SLP? Would courses interest you? If so, what is your opinion regarding two-month long courses with specific topics and instructors? Which format type do you prefer?

Also, please let us know topics for courses you would like us to offer and which of our Chess.com University instructors you would like to see teaching those courses.

And we'll go from there! :)

Kairav