theblackdostoyevsky

What’s the best online course you’ve ever taken?

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I’ve only ever taken a few online courses. I’ve paid for more than I’ve taken, too, which means the cynicism of my answer can easily be attributed to my own laziness and procrastination. I imagine I would have enjoyed learning to play the harmonica from a middling-level player looking for a side-hustle, since Sonny Boy Williamson has been dead for a while now. Or how to use Microsoft Excel like a professional data scientist. Or how to build a dynamite design portfolio. But I never actually sat down and logged on to complete any of those classes. Truth be told, I’d rather read the book than sit for a class. Generally, folks read faster than folks talk, and once you cut out all the “ums” and “ahs” and polite equivocation and “Yeah, that’s a really good observation, Pam,” and “We’re gonna take a quick bio-break, so everybody be back in seven minutes. Rodolfo, please start the timer,” it saves a lot of time if I digest the material in solitude.

That said, if I had to choose one, I’d say the Association for Talent Development’s Instructional Design course. I call it the best because it’s the only one I’ve completed by choice, not for professional development, or CEU credit, or community service for a criminal misdemeanor, or licensure of some sort. I decided, paid, and attended, all of my own accord, and saw the process through to the end. Now, did I enjoy it? Absolutely not. As an educator, it felt like sitting through a class being facilitated by someone who was not a teacher on how to design lessons to teach. Nothing that was covered in six sessions over two weeks was anything I hadn’t heard before. At best, practices I’d been applying, implementing and evaluating at a high level for years were given corporate-y sounding titles named for researchers who’d, allegedly, “discovered” methodologies that were germane to the logical reasoning processes of anyone experienced in the art and science of transferring knowledge from one person to another. Twenty-five hundred dollars. But at least now I’ve got a digital badge and a resume credential that proves to others that I can do what I’ve already been doing my entire career. 

Brave new world.