With a bit more spare time this past month, I decided to get through the growing list online training I had on my later list. It’s a bigger chunk than I’d usually take on at once. It’s been an interesting mix: technical Generative AI and animal behaviour courses.
What struck me most?
I’m still surprised that so many GenAI courses are… well, not using GenAI to make the learning experience smarter, smoother, or more adaptive.
Here are three of the courses I worked through recently:
Anthropic Academy Courses – https://www.anthropic.com/learn
Google ANZ Gen AI Academy – https://rsvp.withgoogle.com/events/generative
Fear Free Shelters Core Modules – https://fearfreeshelters.com/program/
They all had a familiar mix of text, video, and quizzes. Personally, I zone out pretty quickly watching talking-head videos, so I often popped on headphones, listened while doing housework, then popped back over to the laptop to review the key parts visually, or complete the labs and exercises.
One big takeaway: the lack of consistency between presenters in the Google modules. I get it, the catalog is large, but the constant shifts in pace, tone, and “hipness” were surprisingly distracting.
Honestly? A synthetic AI voice trained to my preferences could have made that experience way smoother.
The dream scenario?
A learning platform that adapts to me:
how I like to learn,
what I’m in the mood for,
and what helps me retain information best.
Now that’s the kind of AI in education I want to see.
I’m curious — has anyone come across a course that actually uses AI in a smart, adaptive way?