Online Courses Pre-sign up Checklist…for a Course Hoarder

After seeing how much we spent on courses, I won’t buy any course for a while!

My friend had recently started tracking expenses. Her anguish was more to do with the value she derived from the courses rather than the cost.

There is a big gap in course outcomes, whether it is to do with completion rates or any transformation in the course taker.

I have an inventory of courses. Surprisingly, my list of courses not completed gives me more grief than the number of unread books I have.

The sunk cost hurts much more with an online course than with a book.

While I believe courses are net positive in impact, the decision process to sign up is not entirely in control of the course taker. Courses have long gone from a pull to a push model where marketing plays a significant role.

I have started using a checklist to switch on my cognitive mode whenever I am evaluating a course.

The checklist’s purpose is to weed out rather than select. So the answers are Yes/No, and only an all Yes goes to sign up.

1. Is this linked to an active project or area for me right now?

2. Are the outcomes skewed to skill development (versus knowledge or higher-order areas – identity, beliefs, attitudes)?

3. Can I list down one or more specific outcomes I can expect by the end of the course?

4. Is each item of Course content (live sessions, video, audio or reading material) skewed to ‘me doing’ versus ‘learning’?

5. Is direct and specific feedback built-in?

This is an evolving checklist. What does yours look like?