Best way to access The Great Courses (audible vs wondrium vs ...)?

[Ann.without.an.e]

DS is really really enjoying a set we bought on Ebay for the early Middle Ages. I think he would love using this resource more. Is it better to go the audible route or wondrium or is there a better way? Which platform do y'all prefer for this 🙂 

Edited June 8, 2023 by Ann.without.an.e

[wendyroo]

We have subscribed to Great Courses Plus for many years, and last year it changed into Wondrium.

My oldest watches a ton of Great Courses that way, and I like some of their new offerings like single episode lectures and debates.

[luuknam]

Just now, wendyroo said:

We have subscribed to Great Courses Plus for many years, and last year it changed into Wondrium.

My oldest watches a ton of Great Courses that way, and I like some of their new offerings like single episode lectures and debates.

This, except both of my kids (and I occasionally watch something without them as well). 

I thought Audible only did audiobooks, and a quick search makes it seem it indeed only does (but I only looked for like 30 seconds). For some courses some people say it doesn't really matter, but, for some courses the visuals would be nice or even important. We also really like having subtitles on on everything (also on Netflix, etc), so, there's that as well. But, I wouldn't watch, say, Chemistry and Our Universe (orbitals, pictures of molecules, seeing demonstrations of reactions, etc), How to Play the Ukulele (how to hold the thing, musical notes), Music Theory (notes, again), How to Look at and Understand Great Art (paintings, sculptures), The Science of Extreme Weather (diagrams of how clouds work, pics of radar images of storms and storms themselves), Understanding Economics: Game Theory (matrices and trees), How to Draw (duh), etc without video. Whereas, iirc, say, Modern Political Tradition and Modern Intellectual Tradition would not really lose anything as audiobooks, and some of the other courses have the occasional image that is neat to have but not that important. 

[wendyroo]

Plus Wondrium offers all the Guidebooks for the Great Courses series. This has been really nice when I want to include some output.

[Ann.without.an.e]

19 minutes ago, luuknam said:

This, except both of my kids (and I occasionally watch something without them as well). 

I thought Audible only did audiobooks, and a quick search makes it seem it indeed only does (but I only looked for like 30 seconds). For some courses some people say it doesn't really matter, but, for some courses the visuals would be nice or even important. We also really like having subtitles on on everything (also on Netflix, etc), so, there's that as well. But, I wouldn't watch, say, Chemistry and Our Universe (orbitals, pictures of molecules, seeing demonstrations of reactions, etc), How to Play the Ukulele (how to hold the thing, musical notes), Music Theory (notes, again), How to Look at and Understand Great Art (paintings, sculptures), The Science of Extreme Weather (diagrams of how clouds work, pics of radar images of storms and storms themselves), Understanding Economics: Game Theory (matrices and trees), How to Draw (duh), etc without video. Whereas, iirc, say, Modern Political Tradition and Modern Intellectual Tradition would not really lose anything as audiobooks, and some of the other courses have the occasional image that is neat to have but not that important. 

 

7 minutes ago, wendyroo said:

Plus Wondrium offers all the Guidebooks for the Great Courses series. This has been really nice when I want to include some output.

 

 

I signed up for the free trial. It seems awesome and I just noticed all the books. It is quite a deal really. I wonder how the Spanish 1 program would be for a kiddo who will not be a humanities major? If added to say homeschool Spanish academy for speaking practice?

 

[El...]

My dad just adores the calculus program he found on wondrium. He's started tutoring struggling high school students now that he's retired, and used it to refresh his knowledge.

[CAtoVA]

We have had a Wondrium subscription for over a year now and love it!!! One of my children watches a lot of history lectures (for high school world history) and another watches whatever she fancies—ASL, Spanish, sewing/crafting, etc. It's been a great purchase!

[Ann.without.an.e]

9 hours ago, El... said:

My dad just adores the calculus program he found on wondrium. He's started tutoring struggling high school students now that he's retired, and used it to refresh his knowledge.

 

8 hours ago, CAtoVA said:

We have had a Wondrium subscription for over a year now and love it!!! One of my children watches a lot of history lectures (for high school world history) and another watches whatever she fancies—ASL, Spanish, sewing/crafting, etc. It's been a great purchase!

 

I'm a little disappointed we never discovered or tried this for my older dc. I remember hearing about it but never really pursuing it. Maybe there wasn't a streaming option then and the individual courses purchased can be a little pricey so maybe that is what deterred me. Either way, there is guitar (which ds wants to learn) and I'm excited to try it lol. 

[jplain]

10 hours ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

I signed up for the free trial. It seems awesome and I just noticed all the books. It is quite a deal really. I wonder how the Spanish 1 program would be for a kiddo who will not be a humanities major? If added to say homeschool Spanish academy for speaking practice?

The Spanish lectures are great, but they are much more appropriate as a review than for a novice learner.  The pace is quite fast, and I'm not a fan of the workbook.  

[cintinative]

Just FYI but we can access some great courses via our library (Kanopy, Hoopla), and there is a station on Plex (if you have Plex) called True History that features Great Courses.

[silver]

I've not looked into which videos they have, but if you have Amazon Prime, you can add on "Great Courses Signature Collection" for $8 a month.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/storefront/?ie=UTF8&benefitId=thegreatcourses

 

[klmama]

FYI, Wondrium does not include all of the Great Courses lecture series; the missing ones may still be available on Audible or on CD/DVD from the library or eBay.  

Edited June 8, 2023 by klmama

[Malam]

2 hours ago, klmama said:

FYI, Wondrium does not include all of the Great Courses lecture series; the missing ones may still be available on Audible or on CD/DVD from the library or eBay.  

Do you know why that is?

[jplain]

3 minutes ago, Malam said:

Do you know why that is?

Some of them were filmed so long ago that streaming rights weren't yet a thing.  Here's the official answer (sub Wondrium for TGCP):

"This course will be added to TGCPlus if and when we can acquire the rights for the intellectual property owned by third parties in the course. For new courses, we acquire the rights upfront. For older courses like this one we have to go back and attempt to do so and sometimes it is not possible."

[SilverMoon]

We've been happy with the Audible versions, which also come with the full guidebooks. My youngest kids especially would rather listen than watch someone at a podium, and they can walk around doing mindless tasks like laundry while listening. 

[SeaConquest]

My library has free Great Courses on Libby (formely Overdrive). You might check there, too.

[Momto6inIN]

I just buy the individual courses I want from Great Courses and watch them on the Great Courses app. I'm not sure I'd use it enough for a subscription to Wondrium.