These are our expectations for students in our Foundations series of courses (Rope 201, 301 and 401).
Adherence to Core Values
Rope Study is governed by a set of Core Values. We strive to embody those values in our dealings within the rope community and beyond, and we expect our students to strive for the same.
Attendance & Timeliness
Students are expected to attend all classes and to arrive early enough to be prepared to start class at the specified time.
While we understand that lives are busy and emergencies do happen, we expect 24-hour notice of any absence (except in the case of extreme emergencies).
In the event of an absence, it is the student’s responsibility to coordinate with the instructors to make up that absence.
If a student has more than two absences, that student will be asked to leave the course (see “Termination & Refunds” below).
Preparation & Practice
We expect students to spend time practicing between each class, and we strongly recommend regular, weekly practice. Ideally: practicing at least 2 to 3 times per week for at least 1 to 2 hours per practice session.
In addition to reviewing and practicing ties from previous classes, we will also ask students to prepare for each upcoming class by watching videos related to the ties for the upcoming class and practicing those ties to the best of their ability. We will review and refine the tying and focus on the experience and skills of the bottom in those ties during class.
We recommend that student practice be cumulative, meaning that practice includes previous ties and skills in addition to the ties and skills of the upcoming class.
We will also ask students to read articles, listen to podcasts, and/or watch videos and complete notes and written reflections in response. Students will also be expected to write reflective journal entries throughout the course.
We know this is asking a lot, but we truly believe that you will not really benefit from the course without this level of commitment to study, prepare, and practice, and we don’t want that to come as an unpleasant surprise later. We just want you to know what you’re getting into!
Participation
We expect students to come to class prepared to discuss any readings, videos, or podcasts assigned for that class and prepared to work through the ties and skills for that class. This includes bringing notes and written reflections that students created in preparation for class. It also includes taking notes during class as appropriate.
We also hope that students will support each other and encourage students to share their experiences and what was helpful for them, to help others out during class when appropriate, and to encourage each other in this pursuit.
Website & Educational Resources
We make much of the content on this site freely and publicly available. Students are free to share those materials with anyone as they see fit (under the Creative Commons BY-SA license).
However, any content that requires a user account to access should only be used and accessed by that user. Please do not share materials that are restricted within your course. This is particularly true of videos that we create and provide. The reasons for this vary, but include: adherence to fair-use laws, protecting the privacy of individuals, and not presenting information out of context in ways that may cause that information to be misunderstood or misapplied.
In particular, we make very informal videos that are meant to supplement and support our in-person instruction. These vides are not intended to be stand-alone instruction and are not created with the intent of teaching anyone who is not already working with us one-on-one.
Privacy
The identity of all students should be kept private and confidential. Unless you have been given express consent to share information about a student with someone not in the course, please do not do so. (This includes disclosing someone’s legal name, place of residence, occupation, etc. … again, without explicit consent to do so.)
While we do allow students to take pictures or videos of their own tying, those images and videos must not contain any identifiable parts of another person without that person’s explicit consent.
Violation of either of these expectations will result in immediate removal from the course and will likely carry community-wide consequences as we are in close contact with other groups, event-organizers, and facilities.
Termination & Refunds
We understand that life sometimes changes. If a student determines that they cannot complete the course, they should let us know as soon as possible.
We reserve the right to ask any student to leave the course at any time and for any reason. If the reason is due to a violation of the expectations listed here, we will not provide a refund.