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Recently Purchased: Udemy Courses

Shonen

Dreamer
I seen a YouTube ad for something called Udemy, now I have seen some ads for sites like Udemy before with their streaming service for various different things like Curiosity, Masterclass and so on.
I saw an ad about drawing from Udemy, I decided I was never good at drawing and felt it wasn't worth doing anymore because I wasn't getting anything out of it besides personal enjoyment so I decided to switch to writing.

I ended up purchasing two courses 'Character Art School: Complete Character Drawing Course' by Scott Harris and then I wanted a creative writing course, I found one called 'Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy' by Steve Alcorn and Dani Alcorn.

The price is extremely fair and reasonable compared over 150 in pricing. There is a few hours left.
 

pmmg

Myth Weaver
I use udemy regularly. Its a cheap way to get educated in something. Like everything. You get back what you put in. Most are video lectures with no practical exercises. Even the one that are have no one grading papers so its all on you. IMO, online learning will replace our education system in my lifetime. May not be udemy, buts its coming.

Back for more:

If you are just curious or on a certification track for something and looking at weekend bootcamps, udemy is an adequate and cheaper choice. Plus, you can go rewatch them.
 
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skip.knox

toujours gai, archie
Moderator
>online learning will replace our education system in my lifetime
Has been contended since the 1990s. But there's still plenty of lifetime left, I reckon. It's worth mentioning that TV-based education was going to be the future as well.
 

CupofJoe

Myth Weaver
I love Udemy, Coursera, FreeLearn, Open University and others. I've done a dozen courses over the years. Mainly History or Software, but including a Track and Trace course earlier this month.
And they are getting better. The first few were just lectures that had video and graphics added in.
Now they are designed to be viewed and complete on-line.
Even at established Universities, online education is here. For most subjects. Covid 19 has made sure of that.
Some subject [Medicine, Chemistry etc] can't be taught fully on-line. But for others [English, Computer Sciences, Maths...] there is a real push to make them on-line as much as they can.
I know dozens [at least] of Academics that are transferring their in-person 2 hr lectures into a series of 10-15 minute videos with interactive quizzes and Zoom tutorials. A lot of new skills are being learned very quickly...
For most universities, the job now is justifying the cost of maintaining the Bricks and Mortar for the revenue they bring in.
There will be a lot of system inertia but I think it is an irresistible move.
 

skip.knox

toujours gai, archie
Moderator
I can break down my lectures into a series of videos. I can write interactive quizzes. But that doesn't leave room for the student to do any history. They can learn facts about the past, sure. But history as a discipline means research and writing and review of said writing. Can't really do that in a MOOC, nor can it be self-directed. I was among the first generation who taught online (even before WWW), so I'm coming from a point not of resistance but of experience.

In any case, there's a deeper concern: the social consequences. We have fewer and fewer shared experiences in society. University was one of the last and I'd argue was one of the most important. For all the emphasis on childhood learning, I've long held that the truly important education happens in early adulthood. There is where our brains are sharpest, where we can put our newly-formed morals and ideals to the test, and where we are truly formed as citizens and neighbors and friends. The fabric of a nation is woven best not at age six but at twenty-six.

We had two institutions for such weaving: college and the military. The latter was once a common experience, but once the draft ended, the military became restricted to a sub-set of society. College was moving in the other direction, from elite to widespread. Current crises are putting that spread in danger, but we're talking here of online learning.

Folks who know me know I'm a huge fan of online communities. They are a true modern invention. There's potential in them for education, but no one is exploring them. I'd love to see a forum that took all the humanities majors or chem majors or whatever, picked them up as freshmen and persisted not only through college but into professional life. Create online cohorts. When I pitched such ideas to my university back around 2000, I got blank stares. Turns out, alumni associations are really about fund raising, not community. Instead, online learning is about atomizing, about breaking down the learning experience into fragments with no one interested in creating continuity, much less community.

As ever, it's not really about the tech, it's about the people. I'm delighted as anyone at being able to pick up snippets of information about a topic of my choice. I write historical fantasy, so I cherish me a good horse archery video. But once in a while I'll write a jeremiad or two, to lament what's being lost.
 
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