We have released our first-ever e-learning course, part of a new, interactive e-learning portal that we will continue to expand in the coming months. We will eventually link directly to the portal from the site, but for now, you can access it here for a free excerpt, or to register for the first full module, focused on Spain.
Make sure you are currently logged into GuildSomm, then go to the new e-learning site. From the "Log in" button at the top right-hand corner, you can log into the portal with your existing GuildSomm account.
Test out the content with a free excerpt of the Spain module, or register for the full course for a course fee of $35, which will help us build new modules. Payment is currently proceeded via PayPal, but you can pay with a credit card and it does not require a PayPal account.
Please let us know your feedback as we are planning many more of these courses!
Find the new content here: https://elearn.guildsomm.com
I've been a Guildsomm subscriber for many years and have encouraged many to do the same. Quite frankly, I don't see why this is ultra-premium content. We're already charged an expensive membership, yet every year, it seems more and more of your content requires payment on top of the membership fee we're already paying. What you're delivering here is completely in the scope of what one would expect from your study guides, yet we're being charged extra for it despite it being quite unpolished as Jeremy has pointed out.
I have no issue with being charged a fair price for the content you provide, but frankly if your model continues to move towards being entirely ultra-premium content, I don't see the justification in being charged membership.
Thank you very much for taking the time to share your thoughts. You are absolutely correct in that much of the content within the e-learning courses could be found within the study guide, expert guide, and compendium—in the same sense that much of the information that you find in a class could be researched from multiple sources. The motivation here is really mode of study. We’ve had a lot of feedback that many people like to learn from this approach. I don’t expect all members to find these fit for their style of learning. We have offered a free excerpt for this reason, and if people don’t find them useful, of course they shouldn’t buy them, and if no one finds them useful, we shouldn’t be developing them.
In terms of charging extra for this content, we do so specifically to be able to fund the creation of more of them. The more people find these useful, the more it funds us to hire people to create and verify the content for additional modules. GuildSomm does a tremendous amount of material for free, including features, videos, and podcasts. Personally, I think it’s the best free content on wine that exists. We also charge a membership fee to develop and maintain a vast amount of ever-expanding professional content. We make additional items available for a fee, such as courses, for those who are interested in them, and these are always done at an extremely low cost and within the structure of a nonprofit.