Basic Class Info

These are answers to some of the questions newer members of the Academy often have about how the classes work. If this doesn’t answer your question, please use the”Ask a Question” link on the FAQ page to ask, and please include the URL of this page so we can add the answer to your question to this page for others who may have the same question. Thank you! DHC

How do I REGISTER for a class?

Once you’re registered for the Academy, you’re registered for ALL classes in the “Full” level of the Academy.
If you’re not registered for the Academy yet, you can do that here.
If you’re registered for a single stand-alone class, you should be able to access that class from your dashboard – the icon for that class should be ‘red’ (and all the ones you don’t have access to should be dark grey)

When does my class START?

Almost all the classes are already open 24/7 for self-paced learning, because – unless we’re currently building a class (i.e. when it’s in “BETA”), the basic class trainings for most classes are already pre-recorded. That means you CAN usually start any time.

However …

Occasionally, one of the larger classes is guided by DHC – and when that happens, everyone who wants to follows the modules in order, on a schedule. That has become rarer as we discovered that by focusing on the quarterly concept, members can learn at their own pace – and even choose different classes – and can powerfully learn and share, without everyone having to be working on exactly the same content at the same time. This also avoids the feeling of being ‘behind’ – as we put the fundamental concepts of each multi-module class in the first 3 modules.

If we’re CREATING a new class, then if we say we’re BEGINNING or STARTING it – it means that at least the first module is ready for access. With new classes, we generally build them as we go, incorporating member feedback wherever possible.

What’s a ‘guided’ class?

When we START a guided class it means that

Everyone who wants to in the Academy will be going through the class on the same schedule, and I’ll be answering questions about that particular class in chats and office hours.
Each weekly chat will focus on answering questions and/or giving coaching on that particular module of that class. People who can’t make it to the chats can send questions in advance (via the “Ask a Question” form) and I’ll answer their question in the chat.
If there’s homework associated with the class, we’ll start accepting it each week, and there will be a deadline to submit it.
There’s also usually a PROJECT associate with each class – or each quarter, so there’s usually a deadline for the “Half-Baked” version of the project (your early draft that you can often get my feedback on) and the “Final-Beginning” project: your ‘completed’ version

When does each module of the Class open?

“Officially” each module of a guided class ‘opens’ on Tuesday at Noon EST, but now that so many classes in the Academy are already pre-recorded, we try to make the entire class accessible as soon as we start the quarter.

When is the LIVE part of a class?

The LIVE CHAT associated with each module is held on the FOLLOWING Monday, so that you can ask questions about anything you learned, and so we can go over people’s homework – which is often the most fun and
If you’re registered for a single stand-alone class, you will NOT have access to the Academy chats or the Academy Facebook Page – those are for current Academy Members only. That goes for shorter classes like “Hands on Harmony”, “Sing & Play Harp” or “One Song: The Nightingale” and longer classes like “Blues Harp-Style”, “Strings of Passion”, “Hip Harp Toolkit”, “Jazz for Harps”. Years ago, the longer classes did include live portions, but as the Academy got larger, we had to stop doing that for technical and administrative reasons.

What does it mean when a class is in ‘BETA’?

That means I’m still building the class, still developing the curriculum. It usually means students will have the option to take part in the LIVE filming of the videos that will eventually be edited down into the pre-recorded class trainings.