resources for online education

Whether you are looking to improve your web skills or your writing skills there are a lot of resources available online. You will find a lot of variation in pricing, policies, and processes. I thought I would share with you some of the resources I've used.

udemy:  This is the best of web sites, this is the worst of web sites. It is the worst because prices can vary wildly and because anyone can upload a course. It is the best because there some excellent courses by qualified instructors and because sale prices can be very good. The best advice is caveat  emptor: buyer beware. Pay close attention to the course ratings and wait for the course to be on sale.  I have taken some highly valuable courses on udemy. I used the techniques in Jonas Schmedtmann's responsive web design course to build my own site.

udacity: There are a lot of good things to say about udacity. Courses are developed by engineers at companies such as Google, IBM, and Amazon. They are free unless you enroll in a nanodegree program. The videos are professionally produced and include a dash of humor. Tests allow you to gauge what you have learned.

edX: edX is different from udemy and udacity in that courses start on specific dates rather than being on demand. Courses are provided by academic institutions worldwide and taught by instructors affiliated with those institutions. New lessons are made available on a regular basis. They are reasonably priced. I have only taken one course from edX, and that one was inferior in my mind to what I have taken from udemy and udacity. I may simply have taken the wrong course.

I would be remiss if I did not mention Lynda, now owned by LinkedIn. Lynda does have some very good courses, but the meter is always running. Lynda charges a flat monthly fee. If you take a lot of courses this could be a good thing. Otherwise, you have to be disciplined in your course-taking to avoid having your money go down the drain.

Whatever your preferences, there is an online education option for you.

 

the passive voice

I recently came across an article I had saved from the first quarter 1991 issue of Technical Communication, the journal of the Society for Technical Communication, or STC. The article by Kent Porter is entitled "Usage of the Passive Voice," and is a hilarious spoof on the use of the passive in technical communication.

The passive voice, of course, is when the subject of the sentence becomes the object. The sentence "He clobbered me" is in the active voice. "I was clobbered by him" is in the passive voice.

Although most of Porter's article is funny only if you have either been a technical writer or a user of technical manuals, the author provides a couple of tidbits that any student of language can enjoy. First, he re-writes Shakespeare:

Friends, Romans, countrymen, your ears should be lent to me. … It is intended that Caesar be buried, not praised.

In another example he writes:

Jane was asked to be married by Robert through a romantic proposal.

Both great examples of why to avoid the passive.

Of course, there are times when it is appropriate to use the passive. Anne Curzan, in her video course English Grammar Boot Camp, writes about starting a blog entry this way:

I have a new favorite mug. It was given to me by graduate students in the English and Education program.

Curzan points out that the passive is useful here because the focus of the second sentence is the mug and not the graduate students.

In The Elements of Style Strunk and White state:

The active voice is usually more direct and vigorous than the passive. … This rule does not, of course, mean that the writer should entirely discard the passive voice, which is frequently convenient and sometimes necessary.

The pompous H.W. Fowler states in Modern English Usage that the passive "sometimes leads to bad grammar, false idiom, or clumsiness." Note the "sometimes."

The bottom line, then: give preference to the active voice, but use the passive when appropriate.

By the way, if you are a technical writer or a user of technical manuals you might enjoy Porter's original article. It's here in PDF format. Note that the article starts halfway down the page.