‎Coursera: Learn new skills

Rori T

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This app is in desperate need of a “hands free” mode of some sort. Lessons are cut up into tiny individual vids that can be as short as only 3 minutes, often with “assignment” or quiz pages in between, and as you go through a course you have to manually click through to the next thing again and again and again. It’s infuriating, especially when you have a bunch of short segments one after another, forcing you to click through every few minutes. One of the main reasons I use my phone instead of a computer to listen to lectures is so that I can move around doing other things. I like to listen to music or podcasts while doing chores, exercising, driving, things like that, and would love to be able to do the same with Coursera: just hit play and let knowledge stream into my ear. I can go back to see any visual components I might have missed or do assignments later; on my phone, I’m more likely to be on the go, and apps need to be able to reflect that. The way most courses are structured means you can’t just stick an hour lecture on and go jogging: no, you have to stop every few minutes to poke your phone for the next section.

To be clear, this is not a review of Coursera, which has worked hard to bring a bunch of great courses to the public. But I’ve been deeply frustrated with the app and can only pray it eventually gets a proper modern tune up.