Dev learning got more personal: Educative's January Look Back
Tags: programming, productivity, community, beginners
Published: 2023-01-20 20:19:11

> This is part 3 of our **3-part January Look Back** series, where we look back on some of the exciting developments at Educative in 2022. In this installment, we'll discuss how **learning programming online became even more personalized** in 2022.

The benefits of online learning are undeniable, but it's not without its downsides. Educative's co-founders were privy to the limits of popular learning platforms and built Educative to fulfill the learning needs those other platforms missed. 

In 2022, we added *two important, impactful tools* to provide an even more personalized, hands-on experience to our learners at Educative. We'll share about those today and why they're key milestones in the landscape of developer learning. 

**We'll cover**: 
* [The need for personalized learning](#personalized)
* [New tools at Educative](#tools)
* [Keeping the learning going in 2023](#keep-learning)

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<a name="personalized"></a>

## The need for personalized learning

Today's online learning ecosystem is larger than ever before. 

As long as we have internet access and a working computer, we can learn programming concepts from a plethora of online resources, including:
* Technical documentation
* Blogs
* Tutorials
* Forums such as Stack Overflow
* Online courses (video-based and written-based)

The Stack Overflow Developer Survey keys the world in on the state of developer learning every year. Between 2021 and 2022, Stack Overflow found that **online learning increased from 60% to 70%** among [those learning to code](https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2022/#section-learning-to-code-learning-how-to-code).

In addition to other online resources, **nearly 50% of those learning to code reported using online courses**: 

![Stack Overflow](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/rqdzzyw9tznfzskzkmzk.png)

While these stats were focused on aspiring developers, experienced developers also use online courses — a large portion of Educative's learners are experienced devs looking to gain new skills. But even outside of Educative, online courses are popular among developers of various skill sets. 

The prevalence of [Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)](
https://www.educative.io/blog/enterprise/mooc-learning?eid=5082902844932096) is one strong indicator of **both the popularity of online courses — and our faith that they'll get us results**. Compared to taking online courses from bootcamps or educational institutions, MOOCs bring learning material to people at a lower cost with little to no prerequisites. However, they've been shown to have **downsides, including passive participation** and a difficult user experience. (Here's a Forbes contributor on the [MOOC bait-and-switch](https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereknewton/2018/11/19/beware-of-the-great-mooc-bait-and-switch/?sh=202f564d12f2).

Indeed, MOOCs risk low participation rates. Part of this comes from the fact that it's all too easy to switch to passive learning when you're watching a video-based course. But MOOCs suffer from the same downsides that many other online courses have.

Despite the benefits of online learning, learners can **lose the guided, hands-on learning experience** that they could otherwise get in in-person settings such as classrooms. 

At Educative, we've been thrilled to have **high student retention and course completion rates**. This is because our courses are text-based *and* interactive. Devs don't just watch and learn. They write code with an in-browser code editor to apply what they learn from wherever they are and whichever device they're on.

Educative has already created a learning experience that **translates various crucial components of in-person learning** to our learning platform:
* Interactivity and hands-on learning with an in-browser code editor and quizzes
* Assessing skill proficiencies and areas for improvement with [Assessments](https://www.educative.io/assessments?eid=5082902844932096)

But beyond this, there's still so much more to be done to make online learning more tailored and hands-on. To keep improving our offerings, we added two new tools to Educative in 2022 as **important steps in promising the most effective online learning experience** possible for developers.

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<a name="tools"></a>

## New tools on Educative

### Personalized Paths

It can be said that online learning gives learners more autonomy over their learning experience. Without an instructor's syllabus, they can determine what to learn and how much time to spend on each topic and their own pace. That said, efficiently **navigating a sea of content** and topics can be tough for a beginner to any new skill.

With the introduction of [**Personalized Paths**](https://www.educative.io/blog/learn-to-code-personalized-learning-plans?eid=5082902844932096) in 2022, developers can continue enjoying the benefits of online learning while still getting a **guided curriculum** designed by subject matter experts (SMEs).

Based on developers' unique learning goals, circumstances, and skill sets, Personalized Paths provide a curated, structured learning sequence so they can **reach their learning objectives with the confidence** that they're learning the right skills. Along the way, they can measure their progress with weekly goals and assessments.

Personalized Paths cover topics from web and mobile development to Data Science and programming fundamentals:
* Technologies such as Python, JavaScript, Flutter, Kotlin, Ionic, PHP, Golang
* Web and mobile development
* API development
* Application testing 
* Data structures and algorithms
* Machine learning and deep learning 
* Data Science and Big Data

Educative offers over 600+ courses and Skill Paths, creating countless paths to achieve your goals. Personalized Paths **remove the guesswork** by guiding you in a way that best suits your needs.

Getting a Personalized Path takes just **3 steps**:
1. Take a short quiz (less than 3 minutes)
2. Get a custom curriculum for your unique goals and background
3. Start learning

![Educative](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/hholkd2i83czmdou57n4.png)

### Projects 

Building is one of the most rewarding experiences for developers—and it's also the best way to learn actively. Beyond this, accumulating a developer portfolio of completed projects is crucial for finding new jobs.

Many online resources, including Educative's courses and Skill Paths, guide you in building programs from start to finish. However, to get experience with projects beyond those provided within courses, devs have to **search and find other walkthroughs on their own**. 

While there's no shortage of walkthroughs online, learning time is definitely limited. This is why we [**introduced Projects**](https://www.educative.io/blog/projects-launch-announcement-build-your-portfolio?eid=5082902844932096) in 2022. 

Projects are a curated collection of module-based walkthroughs. With Projects, developers still get guided instructions to **build apps from start to finish**, but they have the freedom to choose projects that **align with their interests and career goals** from a growing library of walkthroughs.

With Projects, developers can choose from various projects in their desired specializations. They not only get hands-on experience with technologies but add tangible projects to their portfolio as well.

In 2022, we released **90**+ **Projects**, all creating different tools with various technologies.

Here are some of our **most popular new Projects** in 2022:
* [Build a 3D Tic Tac Toe Using React Three Fiber and Three.js](https://www.educative.io/collection/10370001/5090593783152640?utm_campaign=&utm_source=medium&utm_medium=text&utm_content=&utm_term=&eid=5082902844932096): Front-end development with React and JavaScript
* [Build a Web Assistant with OpenAI GPT-3](https://www.educative.io/collection/10370001/5948104969027584?utm_campaign=&utm_source=medium&utm_medium=text&utm_content=&utm_term=&eid=5082902844932096): API integration of a web application with Flask and Python
* [Create a Bank Smart Contract using Solidity](https://www.educative.io/collection/page/10370001/6644824229019648/5425549216579584/project?utm_campaign=&utm_source=medium&utm_medium=text&utm_content=&utm_term=&eid=5082902844932096): Building Blockchain and smart contracts with Brownie and Python
* [Create Your First Data Pipeline with a Dashboard](https://www.educative.io/collection/10370001/4806356996980736?utm_campaign=&utm_source=medium&utm_medium=text&utm_content=&utm_term=&eid=5082902844932096): Data visualization of data pipelines using hvPlot and Python 
* [Using AWS Route 53 for Secure Routing](https://www.educative.io/collection/10370001/5086806324543488?utm_campaign=&utm_source=medium&utm_medium=text&utm_content=&utm_term=&eid=5082902844932096): Network security for AWS

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<a name="keep-learning"></a>

## Keeping the learning going in 2023

While there's still more to be done to make online learning accessible to more communities, **we've come a long way** from the times when programming was strictly taught to those who were privileged to be in academic programs. 

With expert-created, structured learning materials, we're proud to serve both aspiring and experienced programmers with our **interactive, portable online learning platform**. As an online course platform, we still provide a high-quality learning experience at a lower cost than in-person classes—but we've taken important steps to **retain the personalization of traditional learning experiences**, too.

> **Start learning with us!** [Explore our course library](https://www.educative.io/explore?eid=5082902844932096).

*Happy learning, and stay tuned for more exciting announcements in the year ahead!*


### Continue learning about dev learning trends on Educative
* [Top 7 skills developers learned: Educative's January Look Back](https://www.educative.io/blog/skills-devs-learned-lookback?eid=5082902844932096)
* [Growing community: Educative's January Look Back](https://www.educative.io/blog/educative-community-lookback?eid=5082902844932096)
* [Educative.io reviews: Why learners code with us](https://www.educative.io/blog/educative-reviews?eid=5082902844932096)

### Start a discussion
What projects would you love to see on Educative in the future? Was this article helpful? Let us know in the comments below!