uCertify and learning things the right way.

There is more than one way to do anything important. At the very least, there will be the right way and then there will be the wrong, drive-off-the-road and hit-an-innocent-kangaroo way. Sheesh…

When that important thing is learning, it’s only natural to not want to hit any kangaroos…right? Right!

So, what is the right way to learn? And how does one not contribute to the decimation of wildlife? The answer to that question is different for a number of people. If you’re a little bit like me, then reading voluminous paragraphs of information is the bane of your existence too.

uCertify takes this bane away by providing helpful little illustrations and tables to summarize lengthy content we probably would have spent too long reading and re-reading just to understand what is being talked about.

For me, the illustrations serve two purposes. One, reference. Once I’ve learned something before, it’s always easier to glance at a table or diagram pointing out the important bits than scanning an entire chapter. The second purpose is helping decide when something is worth learning at all. Crass as that sounds, once a table indicates that the current section discusses Bitwise operators in python, then it’s onto the next for me.

With continuous learning, it is quite important to estimate how much one improves over time. On the python course I took (and I imagine, with all the other courses on uCertify), there is a pre-test so it’s easier to see what aspects of the course require more attention than others.

To complement this, there is a post-assessment test to gauge certification readiness and compare results to see how much improvement was achieved.

This is common with a lot of online learning platforms, but what was more satisfying for me were the tests I could take in between lessons. For example, if a lesson discusses assignment operators in python, it was quite commonplace to find a knowledge check where you’d have to write and run code testing your knowledge on that topic without even leaving your browser.

I think uCertify is teaching content the right way and maybe someday soon, I’ll have some of my courses on there as well. Cheers to the owners of the courses on there and every student who’s intentional about their self-development. ;)