January 2022

Jan 1

New Year, new Certification Pathway!

Happy 2022 and thanks to everyone who contacted me and provided input into the design of our Certification Pathway! In this month’s newsletter I am sharing the ‘Certification Policy’ for those subscribers who wish to pursue recognition of their Asheville Vedic Astrology Apprenticeship Program on teachable.com.

A word from Ryan …

Here’s a message from Ryan about the new Certification Pathway!!

Certification Policy

Background

The Asheville Vedic Astrology Apprenticeship Program was delivered by Ryan Kurczak for students that enrolled between 2017 and 2019. In 2020, the Program was made available on the teachable.com platform in a self-paced delivery format. The original assessments were included in the teachable.com format with the idea that students could complete them for their own learning or hand them in to their Program Mentor or Tutor for discussion and feedback.

Starting in 2022, I (and my team of graduates) will be available to officially assess all the original homework assignments, papers and tests that are included in the Program. Teachable.com students who successfully complete all assessments (including the Practicum Year) will receive Certification and be listed on the Asheville Vedic Astrology website.

How will it work?

Please contact me to inform me that you wish to pursue the Certification Pathway.
I will register you as a Candidate and invite you to join Google Classroom.
Using Google Classroom, Candidates will submit their assessible work (papers, homework assignments etc.) in CHRONOLOGICAL/SEQUENTIAL ORDER.
Candidates will separately make a payment to cover the time of the Assessor (I will provide a link for payment).
The Assessor (myself or another Graduate of the Apprenticeship Program) will evaluate the work and provide feedback.
1. If the Candidate's work is assessed as successful, their status will be updated on Google Classroom and they will be eligible to submit the next assessment.
2. If the Candidate's work is evaluated as not yet competent, the Assessor will discuss with the Candidate the outstanding elements and ask the Candidate to resubmit (Resubmitting may involve an additional fee depending on how much work will be required of the Assessor).
When the Candidate has successfully completed all assessible work, they will be invited to participate in the Practicum Year and join the weekly meetings of the Apprentices.
Upon successful completion of the Practicum Year, they will be recommended to Ryan Kurczak and added to the website.

How much is all this going to cost?

Completing the Certification Pathway is not for everyone. Even when Ryan offered the Program, there was always the option for students to choose NOT to participate in the Apprenticeship, to not submit assessible work and to participate purely for the knowledge being delivered.

TIME

If you wish to follow the Certification Pathway, there will be a considerable investment of time. Each paper can entail 10-20 hours (or more) of drafting, writing and research. There are often two papers per semester and a total of nine semesters - so the time commitment is significant. Papers are expected to be at the standard of publication when they are submitted. One needs to imagine that one is submitting work to an Astrology Magazine for publication. This is the standard that is required. (ie. complete sentences, elimination of typos, spelling mistakes & grammatical errors, as well as the correct acknowledgement of any sources in accordance with copyright laws etc.)

MONEY

Following the Certification Pathway will also involve a financial commitment. The subscription price for the Program on teachable.com did not and does not cover Certification. If you wish to be officially recognised for your knowledge and have access to the Asheville Vedic Astrology website (and be published on Ryan's Youtube channel etc.) there is an additional cost to cover the Assessor's time in evaluating your work and providing feedback.

In 2022, this price will be....

€10 per homework assignment
€30 per paper
€10 per resubmit (at the discretion of the Assessor)

N.B. there are some assessments that fall outside this model (i.e. The Timing and Dasas Exam - which will be administered and assessed by Ryan Kurczak - and The Practicum Year. For full details, see the attached Assessment Payment Schedule for 2022).

As this is the first year of the Certification Pathway for teachable.com students, the Payment Schedule will be updated in 2023 to reflect Assessor’s experience, in terms of realistic amount of time required to evaluate work and provide feedback.

FAQs

What is the total cost of Certification?

This is going to depend how long it takes each Candidate to successfully complete all their assessible work and on how many resubmits they are asked to pay for. But if the Candidate completes everything successfully in 2022, the total minimum cost is €840. For full details see the Assessment Payment Schedule for 2022.

Does that mean that teachable.com students will be paying more for Certification than the original students?

Not necessarily. Again there are variables depending on monthly options versus annual subscriptions but overall the total cost of Certification is very similar. For full details see the Assessment Cost Comparison.

Will I continue to have access to the material on Vedic-Astrology.teachable.com?

My understanding is that access to the material on Vedic-Astrology.teachable.com will continue as long as the teachable subscription is paid. The original students DID NOT have ongoing access to video lessons. Instead, all video lessons were removed at the end of each semester.

Is there a time limit to completing Certification?

The original Asheville Vedic Astrology Apprenticeship Program was a 4 year certification course. This time line will be maintained for teachable.com Candidates on the Certification Pathway. That is, Candidates will have 4 years from their first enrolment in the teachable.com program to successfully complete all their assessments.

This can be addressed on a case-by-case basis if required.

Do I have to wait till the end of the program to begin the Certification Pathway?

No, you can submit assessible work as soon as you have been registered as a Candidate on Google Classroom and you have completed the appropriate course of the Program. Ideally, from now (2022), Candidates will be submitting assessments as they go. For teachable.com students who have already completed the whole Program content, they can start submitting work ASAP in chronological order.

Can I just submit the work I want to be assessed i.e. not commit to the whole Program Certification?

Yes, you can do this privately with your Program Mentor or Tutor.

However, if you want Certification, you need to submit all assessible work in order.

I’ve finished all the material on Vedic-Astrology.teachable.com, can’t I submit my assignments in any order?

No. The underlying andragogy of the Program is that each semester builds on the previous one. Just like building a house, we must start with the foundation and build everything from there. For this reason, assessible work must be submitted in chronological order of the delivery of the material. (Google Classroom will manage this for us by only allowing assessible work to be submitted sequentially.)