After a few weeks of lectures
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A friend asked me for my opinion / review of The Great Courses and this is a major portion of what I sent back to her.
I have rec’d the catalogs in the mail in the past and while intrigued, never pulled the trigger. This year, the catalog with 80% off hit at just the right level of boredom and I was reminded that one thing I wanted to do in retirement was go back to school. I have limited college, so I wanted to look back and pick up basics that I felt I needed, more than just what interested me.
Watch the trailers – excellent preview
I went to the site and watched a trailer for “How to Write Bestselling Fiction”. I was so intrigued I took notes and made a file folder. 🙂 It was like a recipe without being one of those books about formula writing.
Cost of annual vs individual courses
Once I made a list from the catalog and the site, I realized that even at just $25 a pop, I would be better off $$$ buying the annual unlimited pck at TheGreatCoursesPlus. So I took a big breath and did it. Added all the ones from my list to my “watchlist” which just makes them easily bookmarked. So here’s what I picked (or added later) and how many lectures I’ve watched and how I feel about it. Most lectures are + or – 30 minutes.
Here are the courses I am taking
Great Ideas of Philosophy – watched 8 so far – I love this class. The professor is one of those I would have labeled a bore when I was 18, but he has made incredible points about Socrates and the Hellenic period of Greek history that I anxiously await the next one.
How to Write Bestselling Fiction – 5 completed – I learn things every time that make so much sense and yet I never knew. Now I catch myself noting things in the books I’m reading or thinking about reading.
Writing Great Fiction – Storytelling – 5 done and a 6th that was on, but I wandered off and made a note to go back and do over. Not as compelling – it’s deeper and more about developing skills than it is about a recipe. I find it valuable, but more like a droning English teacher than the one you love.
How to Draw I’ve watched 2 and skipped over it on my schedule now 4 times. I really wanted this class but so far an entire hour has been spend showing me his various pencils and what kinds of lines they make. I will force myself back because it’s important to me to learn some basics and also to discover if my avoidance is fear of failure or success. The professor is good looking but the room setting is more interesting then he is.
Learning Italian Language – 4 watched. What I wanted was phrases I could use in travel. So far I am getting freshman Italian with verb forms and whether adjectives correctly indicate singular or plural. I feel like all I’ve learned so far is because I recognize roots from 3 years of H.S. French and a knack for the romance languages when I hear them around me.
Guide to Essential Italy – 3 watched. I’ve been skipping this one sometimes also. It’s a pretty good travel guide but the visuals are the value. The professor knows his stuff; I’m just not that interested. About half of each lecture feels like what you would get from a good local guide and the other half is world history teacher.
Added after initial choices:
Working with Watercolor – 1 watched. I will go back and use this one again when I have a brush in hand and paper ready. I will fast forward and rewind for specific techniques because they are there. I noticed that the teacher usually posts on Craftsy, which is a $5 a class type of place and while good for some, it’s too basic for me. The 30 minutes I watched was similar to How to Draw. I saw all her brushes and all her colors. That’s it.
The Federalist Papers – I have #7 queued up. I have watched 2 in a row sometimes because they are that interesting to me. In depth info about the intentions of the founding authors when they were seeking ratification of the new constitution. Highly recommend for anyone with even a casual interest in civics at the Fed / State level.
Recommendation
Conclusion and recommendation – I will continue with most of the above, some more than others and when the 12-60 lectures for a course are finished I will look for others of interest. Will my interest last for a whole year so that I renew instead of cancel. At this point I will say yes. But I also know myself, so if I wander off, I will surely miss a few dozen interesting things I could have learned.
Watching the trailer is helpful for me because it’s usually an excerpt from about lecture 3, so you get a good idea of the course material and not just a sales pitch. In fact, I have never felt a sales pitch of any kind, even in the frequent emails I get with current event tie-ins to new courses.