How do you evaluate learning resources?

For a while now I have had Quincy’s article, “Let’s explore the universe of programming resources together”, floating around in the back of my mind. So far I’ve seen lots of discussion on what resources are best to learn X, but I haven’t see any see any discussion on how people like to evaluate resources. If I am just bad at searching, please point me to the right posts, otherwise I’d love to hear what others have to say.

What criteria do you think about when evaluating a learning resource?

Here a couple that spring to mind for me:

  • Is it the right fit for skill level?
  • Does it match your medium preference(video, text, ect)?
  • Is it well made?(What does that even mean…)
  • Does it do a good job of conveying information without being confusing?

To your criteria I’ll add:

  • Is it practical? Do you build learning? Do you have access to the code files?
  • How much does a course cost? Is it in a pack with something else? Is it in your monthly/ yearly subscription? What else is available on this page (think e.g. about the future and annual subscription)?
  • Do they have some trials if it’s a paid resource?
  • Who is the person teaching me? Can I learn a lot from them and the way they teach?
  • Is the knowledge practical?
  • Are the courses well prepared in terms of materials?

I’ve been using various materials to learn to code and recently I shot a movie about the ones I come back to most often.
Have a look at this video and the links in the video description:

In the video description you will find also 2 articles about online resources and the criteria that mattered for me while choosing them.

Interested in learning something, things have to be evaluated by:

  • The content provided is quantitative or not
  • Ease of use
  • Choosing the right textbook or the author or video instructor for online tutorial
  • Evaluating websites
  • Cost of course

These are the points to be considered while evaluating online learning resources.