I've bought many courses in the past and it is usually after getting a preview, or some free chapters. One recent example was Miguel Grinberg's excellent Flask Mega Tutorial. He was basically publishing the chapters every week for free on his blog, and the content was so good that I went and bought the whole course. This was not only to have it in advance but also to support his work and (hopefully) motivate him to do more.
I am not a big fan of video courses, but that is a personal preference and I did find some I loved and would pay for (CS50X, for example, but they are free). I will always go for a text-based than a video-based course. Just gives me more freedom to define my own pace and order.
I agree with looking for the samples or previews of courses! I do that as well for books before I decide to buy. It gives a good insight into if the content is worth purchasing or not. Especially when courses and books can be very pricey at times.
I've bought many courses in the past and it is usually after getting a preview, or some free chapters. One recent example was Miguel Grinberg's excellent Flask Mega Tutorial. He was basically publishing the chapters every week for free on his blog, and the content was so good that I went and bought the whole course. This was not only to have it in advance but also to support his work and (hopefully) motivate him to do more.
I am not a big fan of video courses, but that is a personal preference and I did find some I loved and would pay for (CS50X, for example, but they are free). I will always go for a text-based than a video-based course. Just gives me more freedom to define my own pace and order.
I agree with looking for the samples or previews of courses! I do that as well for books before I decide to buy. It gives a good insight into if the content is worth purchasing or not. Especially when courses and books can be very pricey at times.
+1 for CS50,