Earlier today I had the chance to teach the first official public class for the new eProf online educational platform. Being a tutorial creator, it was a nice change of pace to be able to teach a live class with real-time interaction between my students. The only thing that comes close to this experience are giving lessons through webinars, but even then the information is primarily linear. This of course has a huge benefit over traditional tutorials as it allows me to address questions and give hands on help to those who may be having a complication with a particular lesson. Plus, with each student being able to have a live webcam or microphone, the teaching environment because much more intement for all involved.
A shot from the first official eProf class.
With this first class I used Anime Studio as my topic and focused on how to animate a head turn using two different methods. The topic I chose was pretty simple and I went slow, breaking everything down as most of the viewers were new to the animation experience. My method still felt very tutorial-ish, as that is my background. I didn’t even scratch the surface of the features the platform allows for, like being able to share files between students, linking YouTube videos and allowing for students to share their screens with the class. All of these functions, plus others I haven’t mentioned, open up so many possibilities that my head is currently spinning. My tutorial viewers usually pitch questions across my 200 tutorials on YouTube. It can be hard to manage all of these inquiries. But now, all questions can be answered right in the lesson as they come up, allowing for a higher rate of success for students.
My next mission is to plan out lessons that really take advantage of this platform. I want to focus on both Anime Studio, Flash and cartoon animation in general. Eventually I plan to teach courses that could span 10+ classes, giving the students an incredibly detailed and complete look at a particular subject.
If you’re reading this and interested in the subjects I teach, feel free to give me ideas on classes you would like to participate in! Remember, these classes are meant to channel information your way and so I would love to hear your ideas. You can pitch them here, on YouTube, Twitter or Facebook. Be sure to check out the official eProf website too. And stay tuned as I will be announcing a new class lineup soon!
