Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Web
  3. News

MasterClass offers online lessons from the best of the best

By

masterclass online classes serena williams
Lev Raddin/Shutterstock
Have you always wanted to be an actor? Maybe a writer, or tennis player? For those with a passion who have never had the means or the time to learn from the pros, have no fear, the Internet is here.

Launching today, MasterClass is bringing the best and the brightest from a host of professional fields directly into your home to give you a lesson in their trade. Two-time Academy Award winner Dustin Hoffman is teaching a class on acting, the number one-ranked women’s tennis player in the world, Serena Williams, is giving a tennis lesson, and world-renowned author James Patterson is showing how to craft a good story, delivered to the comfort of your living room.

Recommended Videos

“We pair world-class instructors with Hollywood directors and Silicon Valley engineers to create an entirely new online learning experience. That experience is MasterClass,” said David Rogier, MasterClass co-founder and CEO, in a press release.

Each “teacher” has developed his or her own curriculum, allowing each instructor to build instructions around what worked best for them and their style. MasterClass has also teamed with education experts to help instructors develop the best methods of educating students.

“We created the kind of online classes we’d be excited to take, from the people we’d love to learn from,” said Aaron Rasmussen, MasterClass co-founder, creative director, and CTO.

Each MasterClass is priced at $90 and includes 10-25 video lessons from instructors, interactive exercises, learning materials, lifetime access to classes that never expire, and access from any browser on any device. That way, if you hit the tennis court and want to learn from Serena Williams, you can get the class right on your phone and never miss a beat. The first set of classes are directed by Jay Roach (Austin Powers and Meet the Parents) and two-time Academy Award winning documentarian Bill Guttentag.

Classes are available now at the service’s website. Future classes will feature singer Usher and legendary photographer Annie Leibovitz and will be available in the coming months, with more classes arriving throughout the year.

Topics
Steve Smith
Steve Smith
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Steve doesn’t really like to write about himself in the third person. He’s not The Rock. He is, however, a writer who has…
How to change margins in Google Docs
Laptop Working from Home

When you create a document in Google Docs, you may need to adjust the space between the edge of the page and the content --- the margins. For instance, many professors have requirements for the margin sizes you must use for college papers.

You can easily change the left, right, top, and bottom margins in Google Docs and have a few different ways to do it.

Read more
What is Microsoft Teams? How to use the collaboration app
A close-up of someone using Microsoft Teams on a laptop for a videoconference.

Online team collaboration is the new norm as companies spread their workforce across the globe. Gone are the days of primarily relying on group emails, as teams can now work together in real time using an instant chat-style interface, no matter where they are.

Using Microsoft Teams affords video conferencing, real-time discussions, document sharing and editing, and more for companies and corporations. It's one of many collaboration tools designed to bring company workers together in an online space. It’s not designed for communicating with family and friends, but for colleagues and clients.

Read more
Microsoft Word vs. Google Docs
A person using a laptop that displays various Microsoft Office apps.

For the last few decades, Microsoft Word has been the de facto standard for word processors across the working world. That's finally starting to shift, and it looks like one of Google's productivity apps is the heir apparent. The company's Google Docs solution (or to be specific, the integrated word processor) is cross-platform and interoperable, automatically syncs, is easily shareable, and perhaps best of all, is free.

However, using Google Docs proves it still has a long way to go before it can match all of Word's features -- Microsoft has been developing its word processor for over 30 years, after all, and millions still use Microsoft Word. Will Google Docs' low barrier to entry and cross-platform functionality win out? Let's break down each word processor in terms of features and capabilities to help you determine which is best for your needs.
How does each word processing program compare?
To put it lightly, Microsoft Word has an incredible advantage over Google Docs in terms of raw technical capability. From relatively humble beginnings in the 1980s, Microsoft has added new tools and options in each successive version. Most of the essential editing tools are available in Google Docs, but users who are used to Word will find it limited.

Read more