YouTube as a Source of Learning — How to Find the Right Source + Recommended Channels
Most Universities usually provide their students with additional benefits such as free access to course-ware or partner up with an online platform to provide full access to their learning content. Keep reading to find out what to do if you DON’T have access to these resources.
The Backstory On My Search For Online Courses:
The University I attend had a similar program with a Coursera partnership to provide full access to course-ware to students but the slots were limited and their methods of student selection weren’t disclosed. This resulted in students being selected in seemingly random order while the rest were asked to wait for the next academic cycle.
The fact that the selected students now had an advantage over the rest of us was a little disheartening, but then again, we had to pick ourselves up and push ourselves to reach our full potential.
I decided to seek help from a friend to pick the right study materials and he reintroduced me to a gold mine of free learning that we had all long forgotten about— YouTube.
YouTube As A Learning Source:
I was looking towards learning web development, and for starters, I had to learn JavaScript and learn how ReactJS works. I went with freeCodeCamp.org videos with my friend’s recommendation, but an added benefit was that these two videos [links given below] had no advertisements in between.
2. Learn React JS — Full Course For Beginners — Tutorial 2019
The JavaScript Tutorial would take approximately 3.5 hours to complete while the React JS tutorial would take an estimate of 5 hours.
The total time would be an estimated 8.5 hours on learning, but I will also be executing examples and small projects alongside to aid in learning and this might take longer than the estimated time, but no worries there, it will only make learning more hands-on and will result in improved application skills, which is what we are trying to develop as the end goal.
Finding The Right Source:
Finding the right source for learning on a virtually free platform can prove to be quite a task with an enormous amount of choices to choose from, this is where networking comes in handy.
Do your research first, if possible, by yourself, but don’t be afraid to ask others for their opinions. But take suggestions carefully, preferably from someone you know for sure is well versed in the subject. You may also take the help of seniors that have completed projects based on the subject you want to learn, it’s easy to connect on social media and they will most likely provide a positive response, along with links of their recommended videos or the videos that they used to refer to or learn from.
That being said, each person has a different preference when it comes down to the style of teaching, so spend some time comparing by sampling videos for around 30seconds to 1 min each to determine which one you would feel most comfortable viewing.
Recommended Channels For Coding:
· freeCodeCamp.org — they provide crash courses published in a single video format and are particularly informative. One added benefit is that they usually don’t have advertisements in between, but that depends on the video and will be mentioned in the thumbnail.
· Programming with Mosh — clear explanation with examples makes it easy to understand coding concepts as a beginner.
· Codevolution — they provide clear consolidated playlists with the required videos for each subject you will be studying on.
· John Fish — this is not a channel on coding tutorials, but he’s a Harvard student learning Computer Science that documents his work through weekly video essays and is a good watch for a break or when you need a boost of motivation.
My Progress:
Attempting To Learn JavaScript in 3 Hours
Others:
Note: This article is not sponsored and is purely based on the author’s opinions and personal experience on the journey of learning. None of the links provided here are affiliate links of any kind and are self-verified.
The author is a student completing an Engineering Degree in Computer Science with Specialization in Cloud Technology and Mobile Applications.
