curious.comI stumbled across Curious.com about a month ago and was intrigued by the idea. The site has tons of video lessons on a variety of topics. I was most interested in their classes on technical topics, like setting up your own WordPress website (which has been on my to do list for a while), using Google Analytics and the like, but they have classes on just about everything. I’ve seen digital scrapbooking (didn’t know that was a thing), knitting, orgami, baking, interior decorating and even dog training.

For $8.99 a month you get access to all lessons on the site with no limit (that I’ve seen so far) on how many you can take. I think that’s a pretty good value. For example, I found a 17 lesson class in Mastering Images in Adobe InDesign. Since I am currently taking a class in cover design, I was very happy to see that course!

Many of the courses include small quizzes to see if you were paying attention. I like those because it’s helpful for me to confirm I got the basic idea.

One complaint. Some of the classes could be updated. The class on setting up a WordPress site has screen shots of HostGator which were out of date, and I had a difficult time finding the correct link to quick install WordPress. I’m good at navigating strange websites, and I almost didn’t find the link.

Why Curious.com instead of YouTube? There are certainly lots of video tutorials on YouTube, and it’s likely I could find similar content there. A quick Google search found, for example, plenty of InDesign tutorial videos, and I’m sure some or all of them were of comparable quality to Curious.com. For me, it’s a personal preference. I like the way Curious.com is set up with complete courses. It satisfies my desire to feel like I’ve finished something. I’m also one of those people who values something I’ve paid for which means I’m more likely to schedule time to view the tutorials because I’m aware I’ve paid for them.

If you are interested in offering tutorials, they do have an instructor program. I’m not sure it will pay better than monetizing YouTube videos, but I have a couple of tutorials I’ve been meaning to create, so I’ll probably give it a try. It might pay for my subscription. They even offer a class on how to make videos for your classes.

They offer a free trial (7 days, I think), so you can see if the selection offers you something of interest. I doubt I’ll keep my subscription indefinitely, but for now I’m enjoying the classes and the structure they offer.

4 COMMENTS

  1. Lynda.com is another good site for training videos, particularly for software such as Adobe products.

    http://www.lynda.com

    Lynda was just bought by LinkedIn and in an email today I found out that the latter is offering its members a 21-day free trial of Lynda courses. Joining LinkedIn is free, so I assume that if you joined now, you could take advantage of that 21-day free trial.

    https://www.linkedin.com

    The normal Lynda free trial is seven days, so this is a good deal. This offer ends in seven days though (roughly next Tuesday), so don’t delay.

    —-

    Recently, it came to me that for about $70 a month, someone could learn almost everything that very expensive coursework in the graphic arts would teach. Pay $50/month for all Adobe’s Creative Cloud apps and another $20/month for Lynda’s annual billing for all their training videos.

    Pick up a few design jobs as you learn, and you could easily earn enough to cover that cost. And that Adobe membership gives you access to virtually every Adobe product for video, audio, web and print editing. You could become a one-person design studio.

    Here’s a list of Adobe’s Creative Cloud desktop apps. They have others for iOS and Android devices.

    http://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/catalog/desktop.html

    And if you work in an office, Lynda courses can enhance your resume in all important areas like Microsoft Office apps.

    A good way to look at life is to always be:

    1. Working at a job.

    2. Preparing for your next and better job.

    And when you don’t have #1, you have more time for #2.

    –Mike Perry, Inkling Books

    • @Michael, I looked at Lynda and got the same LinkedIn offer, but I was already subscribed to Curious and didn’t want to give over my credit card to another subscription service I’d have to remember to cancel.

      DWS swears by Lynda.com, so I’m sure they are good.

  2. Also think about checking your local library. Many offer their patrons free access to Learning Express (study for college placement exams; graduate school admissions; occupational exams; Armed Forces exams; basic elementary, middle school and high school subjects; resumes and interviews; learn Windows, MAC, Adobe & Office), Universal Class (500 continuing education courses — face painting to physics, weight loss to Adobe Premier) and Gale Courses (six-week instructor led courses from Adobe and Office to sign language, digital photography and genealogy).

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