Q: Can we use the videos as an optional supplementary component?

A: No. We ask the instructor to make our video/quiz a requirement in their class for two reasons:

1. You will greatly lose the effectiveness of the flipped course when the videos are only optional. It’s essential for a flipped course that all the students are ready to start using what they have learned in the videos when they come in to your classroom. If, say, half of the students use them, you will need to explain the grammar to the whole class and that will dissatisfy everyone. To insure that every student watch the videos and take the online quiz before class, we recommend that the result of the online quizzes be tied to the final grade of the course.
2. To honor a contractual agreement we have with Japan Times Inc. and to protect our intellectual property, we must make our best effort to keep our videos available only to students who pay the fee. Making it available to some but not all (and not using the online quiz for grade) increases the risk of students sharing the videos among themselves and beyond.
   

Q: We are not sure of the exact number of students until the semester begins.

A: You can sign-up with an expected/estimated number.

Q: We have students coming in and out during the first week. A few might drop the course during the semester. What do we have to do in those cases?

A: Since the students get charged the full price for the lessons signed-up when they first access the GVG, there will be no problem even if a few students start using the GVG later than others. For those who drop the course during the first half of the semester, we will refund the half of the price they paid. Please have the student contact us using this form. If your course uses the first week for the introduction of hiragana, you might want to have your students start using GVG from the second week to avoid drop-n-add confusions.