Hi folks! Im a data engineer, reactJS dev and entrepreneur. I recently finished an online course regarding a new framework and I faced some issues till I complete it. I thought to see if others faced any problems while doing an online course too. Technical or non-technical. So, what is the most annoying thing when you do an online course?
I run Primerlabs(https://primerlabs.io) and it addresses some problems that learner face while completing the course.
For a long course on, say OCW or eDX, if you stop midway, and try to resume after a couple of months (for whatever reason), you will find that your memory about the topics covered is less. And videos or books aren't really good platform to review what you have learned. ( I wish there was an "Recap" button just like in Netflix series).
On Primer, learners have to respond forcefully which later on helps them review the courses easily. You can do some topics, quit for a while and retrace/recover using what you learned using flashcards and your own responses. It introduces "resumability" which other learning platforms lack.
Shorter courses are easier to complete simply because statistically critical interference is less likely to come up. In the next six weeks, there will be fewer time consuming surprises than in the next sixteen weeks.
Of course a compressed schedule requires more daily commitment. There's no free lunch. Good luck.
Often they're boring and low production value. I've watched a few courses that were nearly as compelling as a TV show. Once you realize that's possible you really miss it in normal courses.
Harvard's CS50 is best of class. Created by David J. Malan. I've never seen an online course that has production quality or clarity of concepts as good as this. Even if you know how to code you may find a few useful bits in there and if nothing else you're learn excellent ways to explain programming concepts to people. They also make a new one every year, so maybe the 2020 or 2021 version is better.
Poker at Hopkins was an intersession course created by Avi Rubin, a poker enthusiast professor who collected resources over many years with the thought in the back of his mind "maybe one day I'll teach a course on poker somehow". It's very much an introduction but a good one.
For a long course on, say OCW or eDX, if you stop midway, and try to resume after a couple of months (for whatever reason), you will find that your memory about the topics covered is less. And videos or books aren't really good platform to review what you have learned. ( I wish there was an "Recap" button just like in Netflix series).
On Primer, learners have to respond forcefully which later on helps them review the courses easily. You can do some topics, quit for a while and retrace/recover using what you learned using flashcards and your own responses. It introduces "resumability" which other learning platforms lack.
I wrote a blog post on why Primer's conversational system is better, if you are interested to know more. https://primerlabs.io/comics/memory-breadcrumbs-comics/