Discussion : Gmc Endorsement/validation Program Options

[Andrew Cockburn]

Kris, Smells and I have been chatting this week about Dave Walliman's excellent idea of using lesson difficulties as some sort of progress or rank indication at GMC - we threw a few ideas around and have come up with a basic idea, but we wanted to throw this out to you, the members for some open discussion and brainstorming!

The basic idea is that GMC members can earn points by playing a lesson to a competent level - this could start out as a kind of honor thing, but eventually could be made into some sort of validated GMC diploma perhaps, with support in the site to handle this if it takes off.

We basically figured out that there are 2 separate important measures, both based on lesson levels, and completion of individual lessons to a satisfactory level. Adding the number of lessons completed over time will give an indication of keenness and also breadth of experience, whereas averaging them would give a good indication of skill level. We agreed that both were important, and would prevent someone getting to a high level by playing many low level lessons - if I learn 10 level 1 lessons I am not the same player who learns 1 level 10 lesson. The first is more diverse but less skilled - the second is more skilled, less diverse. With the 2 scores in place, this would be better reflected, as player one would have a score of 10 but an average of 1, the second would have a score of 1 but an average of 10. We could call the number of lessons completed the "Experience" and the Average difficulty the "Level"


Player 1 : Ex=10,Lvl=1
Player 2 ; Ex=1,Lvl=10

I actually think that gives a very useful track of what each player has achieved - what do you guys think?

The next step is to decide how to track this - initially we decided to start simply as we always do, with a thread that we could rollup the sores into so that everyone could see how it works out, or perhaps a wiki page. Ultimately this could be added as a part of the site. We would also want to reflect this somehow as a badge or level indication under each student's Avatar.

The next issue is how we adjudicate this - we kicked a couple of ideas around here - a panel of Seniors perhaps, but with some instructor input. I though it would make sense to allow the instructor who wrote the lesson to make a final determination but Kris pointed out that in some cases we no longer have access to the original instructors, so we discussed having an Instructor on the Panel who would perhaps have a veto or something similar. Since this was David's idea originally, perhaps he would help out here

Next we need a name for this initiative - so far I have drawn a blank but I haven't spent much time on this - "GMC Validation Program" was my first attempt, Smells came up with "GMC Endorsement Program" - any other ideas out there? Also, this would be a voluntary program as some members would enjoy and benefit from having a structure to work within, other members will dislike this approach, and shouldn't feel compelled to take part.

Finally we need to figure out what all the levels are called - this is the fun part! It would be cool if we could separate the experience and level scores somehow and have a 2 part title that reflects both. Here are some ideas, but I need help with this!

Level (Average Lesson Hardness):

1 - 2 Guitarist
3 - 4 Player
5 - 6 Rocker/Shredder
7 - 8 Guitar Hero
9 - 10 Guitar God

Experience (Number of Completed Lessons):

1 - 20 Learning
21 - 40 Experienced
41 - 60 Accomplished
61 - 80 Very Eclectic
81 - 100 Ultimate


So a guitarist with experience 30 and Level 5 would be an "Experienced Rocker" (or "Experienced Shredder") if they preferred

Experience 65 level, 9 would get you "Very Eclectic Guitar Hero"

Experience 10, level 3 would be "Learning Player"

You get the idea, we probably need to tweak the level ranges and titles but what do you all think overall?

We are looking forward to some good input and lively debate on this - as ever, it is the GMC community that shapes GMC so we want to hear from you!

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