Check what you have actually learned after any lecture, in two minutes, instead of trusting how clear it felt
Learn It So It Sticks: How to Learn From Online Courses
A free mini course on getting more from every online course you take: remember what you watch, fit study into a working week, and use it at work.
Free18m6 lessonsBeginner
What You Will Learn in This Free Learning Skills Course
Build five simple study habits into any course you take, and know the limit of each one
Choose a playback speed for each lecture, and know when speeding up starts costing you understanding
Fit a course into a full working week with three short sessions, and restart a stalled course without starting over
Recognise four popular learning myths, such as learning styles, and know what to do instead
Turn what you learn into changed work with a one-line plan for the next real situation where it fits
What This Free Course on Learning From Online Courses Covers
You finish a lecture feeling you followed every word. A week later, very little of it is usable. It is not a memory problem: smooth, clear videos feel like learning even when little is sticking, and most courses never tell you that.
This mini course is about the learning, not the subject. In six short lectures it covers what the research on learning says works, with an honest limit for each method: testing yourself before you check, spacing study across the week, choosing a playback speed, restarting a course after a break, and planning where you will use what you learned. It also clears up four popular myths that waste study time.
Every method is something you can try on your next lecture, in any course, on any platform. The whole course takes about 18 minutes, and it comes with a set of printable summary cards, one page per lecture, with space to plan your study sessions and your next step at work.
The evidence behind it is strong but not perfect: most learning research was done with university students, not working professionals. The course says so where it matters, and asks you to treat each method as an experiment to try on yourself.
Who this is for
- You are taking online courses alongside a full-time job, and the free hour to study rarely arrives
- You follow every lecture, then find a week later that you cannot use much of it
- You have a half-finished course in your account and are not sure whether to restart or give up
- You watch at double speed, skip on instinct, or reread your notes, and want to know whether it is working
Requirements
- No prior knowledge needed
- Any online course you are taking now, or plan to take, to try the methods on
Course outline
How to Learn It So It Sticks
Five habits in one lecture: test yourself before you check, space it out, take the quizzes, speed up within reason, and write one line for work.
Why It Feels Like You Are Learning When You Are Not
Why smooth lectures feel like progress, what a Harvard experiment found, and the two-minute check that shows what you have actually learned.
Should You Watch Courses at 2x Speed?
What the studies on lecture speed found, where they disagree, and a simple rule for choosing a speed for each lecture.
Learning in 15 Minutes Between Meetings
A three-session week that fits a full-time job, what to do with ten minutes, and how to restart a course after a long break.
From Course to Work: the One-Line Plan
Write one if-then sentence per section so what you learn shows up in your next meeting, report or review.
Four Learning Myths to Stop Believing
Learning styles, the learning pyramid, ten thousand hours and the Pomodoro rule: what is true in each, and a three-question test for any learning advice.
Course includes
- Printable summary cards (PDF): one page per lecture, plus a page of free resources
- Fill-in pages for your weekly study sessions and your work plans