Natasha Bodnarchuk

Canadian National Team Ski Jumper

I have always had an interest in books and writing. I became more drawn to the idea of an online course when I found that edX offered a creative writing one revolving around how to write a novel. With the help of Game Plan and my advisor Cara, I decided to register for this six-week course offered from the University of British Columbia. I think it can be nerve-wracking for anyone who hasn’t been in school for a while to jump back into it. But the edX course that I registered in was really flexible and made it easy for me to accommodate my busy schedule that consisted of working part-time and training full-time. Unlike other edX courses, which you can start anytime and complete independently, this course required you to do it within a certain period of time as other students were registered and professors from the UBC would be teaching it each week. Following the deadlines for assignments, the teachers from the university would do a live show, which you could watch back anytime. Here they would answer any questions sent in and even go over some student’s work that had been handed in. This was quite valuable as I was getting detailed feedback on my work which, depending on the size of the class, you may not even receive in a legitimate university. I was also able to chat with other students in the course and get feedback from them.

I’m the kind of person who feels super accomplished when I set a goal and complete it. Instantaneously, I found this feeling of satisfaction once I began handing in assignments. My overall mood was improving and I wasn’t worrying about having to change around any schedules since I could work on the course anytime and in anyplace, so long as I had Internet. I was never worried about deadlines because in the spare time that I had I was eager to dive back in. The quality of my training was improving as well.

I was actually sad when the course ended. But with new skills learned and an outline of a novel I was motivated to keep going.

So what am I doing now? You’ll just have to wait and see!

Natasha Bodnarchuk