What’s the best online course you’ve ever taken?

What’s the Best Online Course You’ve Ever Taken?
If you had asked me this question a few years ago, I would have laughed and said, “Online course? I’m a medical student. My course is the one with cadavers, sleepless nights, and textbooks heavy enough to double as weapons.”
But life has a way of teaching you that learning isn’t confined to one room, one syllabus, or one season. Somewhere between lectures at the College of Medical Sciences, building a business, running a foundation, and trying to make people laugh on YouTube, I discovered that the internet is one of the greatest classrooms ever built. You just have to walk in with intention.
So, what’s the best online course I’ve ever taken?
Honestly, it’s hard to point to a single certificate or one polished playlist. The best course I’ve taken is the one that changed how I think, not just what I know.
The Course That Taught Me to Learn
The most valuable online learning I’ve done wasn’t the flashiest. It was a course on learning itself: how memory works, how to space your revision, how to test yourself instead of just rereading, and how to stop confusing familiarity with understanding.
As an MBBS student, this was a revelation. In medicine, you can read the same page of pharmacology five times, feel very intelligent, and then forget everything the moment an examiner asks a question. That course humbled me. It showed me that highlighting isn’t studying, and that the discomfort of recalling something from scratch is exactly where growth happens.
I stopped asking, “How many hours did I study?” and started asking, “What can I actually remember and apply?”
That single shift has done more for me than any late-night cramming session ever did.
Why It Beat Everything Else
I’ve sampled courses on business, writing, finance, and communication. I’ve watched lectures, taken notes, and abandoned a few halfway (yes, I’m confessing). Here’s why that one stood out:
1. It was practical. Every lesson came with something I could use the next day. Not theory for theory’s sake, but tools I could test on my own life.
2. It respected my time. I’m juggling a lot: medicine, King David Properties, the Eze David Education Foundation, writing, content creation. A course that waffles for three hours before getting to the point is a course I will not finish. This one got to the point.
3. It built a skill that multiplies. Learning how to learn is like planting a tree that produces fruit for every other subject. Anatomy, real estate regulations, storytelling, leadership, all of them became easier to approach.
4. It made me accountable. The best courses don’t just inform you. They challenge you. This one pushed me to apply what I learned, track my progress, and be honest with myself about where I was slacking.
What the Best Courses Have in Common
Over time, I’ve noticed that great courses, online or offline, share a few traits:
A clear destination. You know what you’ll be able to do by the end.
Action over passive watching. If you’re only consuming, you’re not learning.
A teacher who cares. You can feel when someone is teaching to impress versus teaching to help.
Room for reflection. The real learning happens after the video ends.
And here’s the part nobody likes to hear: the best course in the world is useless if you don’t show up. I have enrolled in courses I never finished, and I’ve learned more from “average” ones I took seriously. The difference was never the platform. It was me.
A Word on Faith and Learning
As someone who sees my callings as interconnected, I can’t talk about learning without mentioning purpose. I believe knowledge is a stewardship. The more I learn, the more I’m responsible for. Whether it’s helping a patient someday, guiding a young person through the Foundation, being honest in business, or telling a story that makes someone feel seen, the point of learning is never just a bigger brain. It’s a bigger capacity to serve.
That’s why I treat every course, every lecture, every late-night tutorial as a seed. Some will sprout quickly. Some will take years. But none are wasted if I’m willing to apply them.
My Advice If You’re Choosing Your Next Course
If you’re standing at the edge of a course catalogue wondering where to begin, here’s what I’d tell you as a fellow learner:
Start with the skill that improves all other skills. Learning, communication, and critical thinking pay dividends everywhere.
Pick one and finish it. Ten half-watched courses will teach you less than one completed with intention.
Apply it within 48 hours. Knowledge that isn’t used evaporates.
Teach someone else. Explaining what you’ve learned is the fastest way to find the gaps in your own understanding.
Be patient with yourself. Growth rarely feels dramatic while it’s happening.
Over to You
So that’s my answer: the best online course I’ve ever taken is the one that taught me how to learn, because it quietly upgraded everything else I do.
Now I’d love to hear yours. What’s the best online course you’ve ever taken? What did it teach you, and how did it change your life, your work, or the way you see the world? Drop it in the comments. You might just point someone else toward the course that changes their life.
Until next time, keep learning, keep growing, and keep showing up.
Eze David