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.

Is Busuu a good way to learn a language ? First impressions...

I just completed the first lesson at Busuu.com, B1 module, Express your opinion ("Выскажи своё мнение"), and here are my first impressions...

Learning interface
The Busuu user interface is simple and effective, menus are well structured and easy to navigate. The design could be improved though: part social network, part online video game, there are plenty of examples available to make it more modern.

The content
I'm a little surprised by my first lesson. It's a series of verbs to help you express opinions : to suggest, to recognize, to approve, etc. Although certainly useful, it's a little puzzling why Busuu chose to start with this kind of vocabulary. I would have liked something else, but I can't define what.

Progression
To move on to the next lesson (level), you need to 1) translate a little piece of text, typically using vocabulary learnt during the lesson, select a corrector, then 2) correct the text written by another student.