eLearning platforms can be a fantastic thing for those who enjoy learning a lot of information at their own pace. They’re also a great way to learn directly from an expert at something, rather than through second or third hand sources. Yet another great thing about eLearning courses is that they can often act as a way for students to embrace education without the hassle of traditional academia.
As with any open-source platform, there is the chance that there are rip-offs. Since many courses don’t allow potential students to view any kind of course material prior to registering (and paying), many students can find themselves taken in by unscrupulous practices, wasting hard-earned money and getting little in return. Here are some kinds of courses to watch out for.

The Course Promises No Goals

One of the things eLearning can offer is specifics. If you know specifically what you’re going to achieve by taking a course, you’re probably in luck. A course is given the opportunity to showcase several fantastic goals of what the students will achieve upon completion. However, some courses are a little cagier. If the goals of a course you’re looking at promise anything like, “You’ll become better at ____,” or, “Learn how to get more out of life,” or anything difficult to define and quantify, the only thing you’re likely to get out of the course is better at spotting scams in the future.

The Course Promises Amazing Goals

This is not to say that by promising goals, a class is necessarily not a rip-off. For example, there are many courses that offer fantastic goals. In fact, some of those goals are so fantastic that they’re literally just that: fantasy. If a course offers to make you a millionaire in a few months, it’s almost certainly trash. If it promises you that you’ll stop being awkward and immediately hook up with the girl of your dreams, it’s just taking you for a ride. None of these courses can deliver on what they promise because what they promise is so ridiculous and fantastic. Of course, many of these courses can deliver some fraction of the success they advertise, but most likely they’re just speaking of extremely outlying achievements or lying altogether.

The Course Says Nothing About the Teacher

When you take an eLearning course, one of your biggest focuses should be on the teacher. When determining which course is right for you, you’re going to want to know that you have the best candidate for the job of teaching you. You’re putting your money and education into this person’s hands and trusting them to show you a better way of learning.
If a course tells you little to nothing about the teacher, this is not the course you want. One of the best things for students about eLearning is that you have the opportunity to learn directly from experts. Don’t throw that opportunity away for the sake of a bad course.