I am delighted that you have chosen to take this course. I’m Ross Hall, Director of Education for Ashoka, and I will be your guide throughout the course.
How does this course work? What should I expect?
If this is the first time you are taking an online course, the format might surprise you. Unlike a traditional course, here you are not obliged to come to class, and it isn't me, the teacher, who will make you do anything at all. You study of your own free will, for yourself and at your own pace.
It’s essential that you have a good understanding of how the course works so that you can get a good grasp of it.
Familiarize Yourself Completely With the Course Format
As you can see (and read), this course has been designed using two formats: video and text.
In the videos, I will explain all the theoretical ideas to you, in a fairly summarized way, in order to then put them straight into practice through concrete examples.
In the text, you will find reminders, some anecdotes and additional resources. Most importantly, you will find tasks that enable you to practice for yourself.
Some students will be able to learn just from watching the videos. To get the full benefit of this course, I suggest that you take the time to complete the activities, which will allow you to gain new skills. In other words, you will be able to reinforce what you have seen in the videos.
At the end of each of the four course parts, you will be able to assess yourself by taking a quiz or by completing an activity corrected by your peers (the thousands of other learners who will be taking the course with you).
If you pass all the assessments, we will send you a certificate of achievement. 🏅
Plan How to Complete the Course
Completing this course will not take you very long (between one and 10 hours, according to your level of commitment). So, it’s quite short in format. Nonetheless, to increase your chances of continuing to the end and enjoying your new skills, I strongly advise you to plan how you will complete it.
I suggest that you proceed in three stages.
1. Select Your Level of Commitment:
Level of Commitment | Involvement | Approximate Number of Hours |
1. Curious | You complete the course as you would watch a film. You are curious, but not necessarily determined to really improve your learning ability. You are not interested in completing the activities. | 1 hr |
2. Participant | You wish to acquire the skills but spend the minimum amount of time doing so. You watch the videos, simply read the text and complete the assessments as you go along, without spending too much time on the activities in the chapters. | 3 hrs |
3. Active | You want to improve your learning ability and devote time to develop new skills. You follow all the advice and take the time to think about what you are learning in order to absorb it. | 6 hrs |
4. Determined | You are passionate about the subject and determined to achieve full mastery. You go above and beyond the advice and have discussions with your peers both online and offline. You design your learning plan and implement it. | 10+ hrs |
2. Split up the Course
According to your level of commitment, you will split up the course in different ways. Again, you are free to organize yourself as you see fit.
All the same, here is the schedule I recommend:
Level of Commitment | Time Period | Sessions | Session Length |
1. Curious | 1 day | 1 or 2 | 30 min-1 h |
2. Participant | 3 days | 3 to 6 | 30 min-1 h |
3. Active | 1 week | 12 to 18 | 20-30 min |
4. Determined | 2+ weeks | 20+ | 20-30 min |
3. Add the Sessions to Your Diary
Now that you know how much time this course could take you and how to split your sessions:
Give yourself a realistic deadline.
Block out periods in your calendar.
If you wish to save time, schedule a recurring event called "Learn How to Learn" every day at the same time, until you have mastered the course.
We will go over the questions of scheduling, in detail, in the third part of the course, which is dedicated to creating your personalized learning schedule.
Learn Together With Others
For many reasons that we will go into later, surrounding yourself with learning companions is an excellent way of boosting and maintaining your motivation. Discussion with other learners allows you to jointly create meaning and cement the information more permanently in your memory.
So invite your friends and colleagues to take the course with you. If you decide to discuss with them on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, you should still remember to come back to OpenClassrooms to resume the course. 😅
The more of you there are taking the course and giving feedback, the better the course will be.
Let's Recap!
To get the most out of this course, you will need to demonstrate independence and self-determination. So, be as firm as possible in your decision to learn how to learn but flexible about how you get there.
When you are ready, continue to the next chapter to get to brass tacks.
