I am a Gen-Z student pursuing engineering. I never explored learning beyond college classes but the pandemic helped me broaden my horizon to newer skills and I found that the best way to do this was through online courses. Virtual learning has become a dire need and it has caused significant changes in the educational field. Personally, I have expanded my skill-set by exploring courses like Web Development, playing guitar, photography, content writing and digital marketing ...

Here are the 4 factors I considered while choosing an online course which even you can be mindful of.

• Decide the amount of time you can devote

First and foremost, one should recognize the level up to which learner wants to learn and determine the time one would be able to provide to this course. Use duration filter in search options and select the duration slab which one has decided upon earlier.

• The content should be thoroughly analysed

It is always a good practice to know the final outcome you expect from a course and then matching it with the content offered by the course. On Coursera and Udemy one can check the video titles and their descriptions before enrolling on a course. See if the course offers practical assignments and their solutions.
If you are already an intermediate level knower of the skill, you should check if the course offers advanced level skills by analyzing the content of the course.

Never rely on difficulty level filter in search options!!

• Flexibility of the course

Almost all the online courses offered are fully flexible with respect to the content watching deadlines but some courses offered by universities have assignment submission deadlines from the date of course enrollment (Such courses might even be graded).

• Course review and educator review from previous learners

Many course creators run YouTube channels and publish some modules from their courses on YouTube. Those videos are a brilliant way to check your compatibility with educators. Student reviews are subject to one’s personal opinion but can be checked for red flags !! about educators.

Online courses have become an integral part of our education now. These courses also help digital nomads—someone who espouses a technology-enabled or location-independent lifestyle (I am probably the KING of this clan !!). No matter where you are in this world you can continue with your learning journey.

⚠️⚠️WARNING !!! (serious talk ahead) ⚠️⚠️

One of the most important aspects is the inherent flexibility of such courses, however, there is a catch, one has to be extremely self-motivated in order to learn efficiently through these courses.

HAPPY LEARNING😁😁