One of my favorite lines from Star Wars is when Han Solo tells Luke, “That’s great kid. Don’t get cocky.” It is a reminder that we are all vulnerable to the same hubris that brought Icarus down. My general tendency is to under, not over-estimate my abilities. However, even I get cocky sometimes.
I recently completed Google’s Power Searching course. I started the course confident in my facility with Google’s search functions. An assumption that I confirmed by scoring perfectly on my pre-course assessment. I always keep an ear close to the ground and generally read about new search functions when they are first released. It should be obvious that I didn’t take the course because I wanted to brush up on my search skills. I took the course because I was hoping Google would reveal a bit about how their search functions work. In other words, I was hoping they would tell me how to game their own system. That was where I got cocky. Google is known for keeping their cards close to their chest. There was no good reason for me to believe that they were going to let any of their well-kept secrets slip in a simple online course.
You may wonder (I know I did) whether it was a complete waste of time to take the course. The pedagogical part of my brain says no. I have done a fair amount of research on the effectiveness of online learning for adults. Based on my research and personal experience advising online presenters, I would give Google a B/B- for their course. Google did not do a great job defining the knowledge or experience level of their target audience. I found that much of their content was too advanced for beginners, but too basic for the advanced. I suspect Google heard similar feedback during the 6-week course because I did see the course shift more towards beginners in the second-half of the course. Google could also have done a better job supporting different learning styles.
There were some things that Google did well in their course. They offered both synchronous and asynchronous opportunities to engage with Google employees and fellow students. Both important elements that enhance a self-paced, online curriculum.
Would I recommend that anyone take this course, should Google offer it again? My answer is a guarded yes. They seem to be aiming at a target audience of advanced beginners. Based on the adjustments Google made throughout the 6 sessions, I think Google has learned some important lessons about how to better serve their target audience.