Online seminars/courses: The difference in quality
But I just can't stand how the information is presented in that one. It's good information; it is stuff writers need to know (and I know a lot of it already). If only the course's creator would have made sure she knew what is essential for online courses. In addition, some of the things included in the course simply do NOT work. One example is the Facebook group, in which you are supposed to be able to ask questions and connect with other writers. The link leads to an error page. I asked a question in the course's comment sections. Then, in a later part of the course, I looked at the other comment section, and someone asked the same thing - TWO YEARS before I did. So this has been broken for two years.
Fine, I could deal with that, even though it is not a good thing to take people's money and then abandon your course, hoping that people just keep paying. Fortunately, the course was part of a writer's bundle I bought. I would have been more annoyed if I had spent over $300 for it (that's what the author asks for).
Another point I did not like was that the author hardly ever looked at the camera but only read notes in front of her. It wasn't compelling and also did not look professional at all. She claims to be passionate about the topic but can't talk about it without reading her notes all the time? It felt a bit creepy, mainly because she also used vocabulary that is not appropriate for an online course like that.
So no. I am not going to stick to that ten-week course. I can't watch this for ten weeks. It was driving me crazy.
Fortunately, I currently have a free month of LinkedIn Premium. This gives me access to LinkedIn learning, which has some excellent writing courses. If you have not yet taken advantage of that, I'd highly recommend it, esp. for the classes by Jessica Brody. She's excellent. She radiates her love for writing. She's full of joy, and watching her is very motivating. Of course, she probably has a script, but she speaks freely and is engaging - and believable. Thanks to one of her courses, I already have a plot outline for about 20% of a novel I want to work on!
I know WHY there is such a difference in quality when it comes to webinars, online courses, online seminars - whatever you want to call them. But why is it acceptable for people who offer questionable quality to get away with charging hundreds of dollars for their content?
Well, in another case, it was only $47 (which I also did not pay as it was also part of the writer's bundle): the guy simply recorded a webinar he did with others. So, you paid that money to watch them watch him while he was lecturing in a way that made you fall asleep. I couldn't watch for more than ten minutes. That does not include the first ten minutes in which you could watch every participant logging in, some apparently struggling with the technology. Why was that part not cut? Did the other people agree to be part of a "course" sold to other people?
Why is there no option to leave reviews for such courses? A way to warn other people?
I hope I can offer you a list of really GOOD courses and books in a few weeks. I'll be honest about what I liked/loved. I'll always only share quality information. Hopefully, you'll appreciate that.
Let me know if you took part in a good writing course or read an excellent writing book!
For this post, I would recommend you to check out Jessica Brody. She's written "Save the Cat writes a novel" and produced a few high-quality online courses. You can get her lectures on LinkedIn premium learning, so grab that free month if you haven't yet!
Comments
Post a Comment