A question I get asked all the time is, "are your courses interactive?" Well, this all depends on what you mean by "interactive." By the broadest definition, YES, my lessons are interactive. They're designed so that you watch the video, and follow along with my instruction. If you're learning Excel, for example, you watch a little bit of the video, PAUSE it if you like, and then build the spreadsheet that I'm building. The videos are designed to be small enough so they can fit on most screens side-by-side with the application that you're working with. I want you to feel like you're working WITH me as we build the spreadsheet together.
Now, if you're talking about one of those tutorials where the narrator says, "click here" and then the video itself stops and waits for you to click on something... then NO, my lessons are NOT interactive this way, and for one good reason: I personally CAN'T STAND these kinds of tutorials. I've tried several of them myself (and considered making a few) and I've found that all these kinds of lessons do is reinforce following blindly along with the computer when it tells you "do this then do this then do this." You're just mimicking like a parrot.
With my lessons, I like to show you the way to do something, but then I also show you other alternatives, examples, options, and so forth. I go into a lot more detail and explanation than these "click-here-step-by-step" tutorials do. Plus, I try to show you the BIG PICTURE... not have you focus on one click at a time.
Now if you really want interactivity, each one of my tutorials (in fact, each VIDEO lesson) has its own INTERACTIVE student forum where you can post questions about the material you just learned. You can read all of the questions that previous students have asked, and you can see all of the responses to them. It's not immediate (it can sometimes take a few hours or days to get a response) but it's real human interaction. I try to help out in my Forums as often as I can.
So, I hope this helps to answer the question of "are my courses interactive." Of course, the BEST way to find out for yourself if you're going to like my lessons is to TRY ONE. Here's a link to check out some of my tutorials for free. FREE BEGINNER TUTORIALS. Enjoy.
15 years ago
