Okay. Maybe I'm just easily impressed by technology, but I just finished an object-oriented programming (OOP) course on Educative and it blew me away. As an educator for higher-ed, this is one of the best platforms I've encountered for learning material efficiently and as hands-on as programming can be.
Getting started
Like most online-learning platforms, all of the different resources and tools can be overwhelming. Educative consists of courses that are actually written by "normal people" as well as some courses from the creators. It does have a set subscription price of $13.32/month (billed $159.20 annually) for the standard plan and $19.99/month (billed $239.20 annually) for the premium plan. Plus, if you're a current student, you can get the first 6 months free through GitHub for students.
Choosing the courses
If you already have an idea of what topics or concepts you want to learn more about -- for example, I knew I wanted to refresh my knowledge of OOP starting from square one -- I just searched for an OOP course in Python. If you are kind of just looking for somewhere to start, Educative has a handful of different "paths", or an order of courses to take laid out for you. Like...how much easier can it get?
Building projects on Educative
Maybe you've finished a few different courses and want to start implementing these different skills into a certain deliverable. You might have even come up with an idea as you were chugging along the courses, but need some assistance getting started. There is a way you can start creating projects right on Educative without the need for third-party access, no sandbox set up, and no local storage! I'm still learning myself and have little to no idea what most of these projects entail, but I'm incredibly excited to start some of these.
Why it works
Educative provides structure, content, and freedom to do build your portfolio of knowledge holistically. Its pedagogy is all about interactive, hands-on learning as you absorb knowledge through descriptive text and examples. Forget long and droning lectures that leave you feeling the need to take a break. Educative courses suck you in and motivate you to finish that module and keep going. Learn - practice - create - repeat.
My favorite courses so far
I can't finish this article without leaving you some recommendations~
- Course: Learn Object-Oriented Programming in Python by Educative
- Course: Data Structures and Algorithms in Python by Vincent Russo
- Course: Quick Start Full Stack Web Development by Erik Ferragut
- Course: Decode the Coding Interview in Python: Real World Examples by Educative
- Path: Become a React Developer by Educative