How to evaluate online courses (for Russian)

Привет,

Long time no post, but I've been very busy learning and evaluating resources to learn Russian. So far I have been working with Busuu.com and LearnRussian for a structured course and here's an attempt to evaluate them with objective quality criteria.

• Busuu
• course structure : Lessons are structured around vocabulary themes, backed up by images (sometimes a bit far fetched) and spoken phrases (with translations)
• navigation : it's silly but I couldn't see the list of lessons. I found them but clicking on the tree image at the top, although again there was absolutely no indication this was a clickable animation.
• cost : freemium, you get extra service by registering
• course flexibility : You cannot choose your lessons, you have to go with the proposed order
• content value : My opening lessons were "Giving your opinion", "Using the Internet" and "Looking for a job".  I didn't find those topics very appealing, although I learnt useful vocabulary. I'm lacking grammar reminders. 
• overall impression : Useful... but.  Need to dig a big further into the next lessons..."Horoscope", "Plus Perfect tense", "On the phone".... I wonder if I should try level A2. 

• LearnRussian
• course structure: lessons on vocabulary or grammar points, you learn through images, recorded dialogues and multiple choice exercises. Dialogues are natural and pleasant, spoken with just the right speed for a new starter. Images/comics backup spoken dialogues.
• navigation : no nonsense, "Lessons" menu at the top, completed by sections to the left of the screen. 10 out of 10.
• cost : free !
• course flexibility : absolute flexibility, you can go in order or skip to what you like
• content value : only did two lessons, but it was just the right mix of vocabulary and grammar.
• overall impression : More flexible, I found this more lively than Busuu, more "natural" with real spoken dialogues.

That's a first attempt of evaluation. I'll probably refine in future versions, but that should give you a good overview. One issue I've had with both systems is that being online, you need to type Russian words for exercises to make the most of it. And there too I have made a beautiful discovery that I'll share in my next post.