Sylvia Bernstein Aquaponic Gardening Online Course Reviews – Growing Fish and Vegetables Together
So I just wanted to write up a quick review of Sylvia Bernstein’s online course “Aquaponic Gardening – Growing Fish and Vegetables Together“. Yes, I did buy it and thoroughly enjoyed it.
The first thing I love about the course if the PRICE! The website as of this date has a current price of $49.95. With some classes costing thousands of dollars this is a great way to get your feet wet into the world of aquaponics. You can’t beat the price for everything you get out of it!
I love that 2 times a month Sylvia Bernstein has a live chat on the site the second and fourth Thursday of the month at 7:00 pm Mountain Time, where you get to ask all your pressing aquaponics questions and get any course material cleared up.
Everything is on video (over 5 hours) in an easy to follow and understand format. No reading 100’s of pages of junk. I was so excited, I did the entire course in one day. 🙂
You can ask questions in the class room in a text format for her to answer the next day.
Networking with other aquaponics students in the classroom – You can message each other.
Is their anything I didn’t like about the course?
When I bought the course, I was expecting advanced aquaponics issues to be talked about as well as aquaponic raft systems like the Virgin Islands UVI System by Dr. James Rakocy. This is a beginner level course designed for someone who is just getting into aquaponics and it mainly deals with flood and drain or media based aquaponic type systems. That said, it’s an awesome course that’s well worth the money and I’m sure everyone will get something out of this class. I thought it rocked!
Here’s some more info about the class taken off her website.
Course Outline:
Chapter 1 – Getting Started
1. Aquaponic Gardening Course Introduction 2. What is Aquaponics and Why Should You Care?
Chapter 2 – The Plan
3. System Location and Environment 4. Grow Lights 5. Heating Air and Water 6. System Types 7. Media System Designs Chapter 3 – The Hardware 8. Grow Beds 9. Fish Tanks 10. Sump Tanks 11. Ratio Summary 12. Plumbing Basics Part 1 13. Plumbing Basics Part 2 14. Pump Basics 15. Pump Sizing 16. Grow Bed Plumbing – Using a Timer 17. Bell Siphons Part 1 18. Bell Siphons Part 2 19. Grow Media 20. Water and Oxygen
Chapter 4 – The Software
21. Fish 22. Harvesting and Filleting Fish 23. Plants 24. Insects Part 1 25. Insects Part 2 26. Worms
Chapter 5 – The Integrated System
27. Cycling Part 1 28. Cycling Part 2 29. Water Testing Part 1 30. Water Testing Part 2 31. pH 32. Troubleshooting 33. Conclusion
Diving Deeper
1. Aquaponic Gardening Rules of Thumb 2. 12 Ways Aquaponics Differs from Hydroponics 3. Is Aquaponics Better Than Certified Organic 4. Aquaponics, Safe Food, and Public Perception 5. Aquaponics Fish Stocking Density 6. Addicted to Aquaponics 7. Aquaponics and the Wonderful Worm 8. Commercial Aquaponics 10 Things to Consider 9. Feed the World, Protect the Planet 10. Fish as an Efficient Source of Protein 11. Aquaponics and Setting Unrealistic Expectations About Vegetable Production 12. Top 10 Stupidest Things I’ve Done in Aquaponics
Print and Use
1. Aquaponic Gardening Data Tracking Worksheet 2. Aquaponics System Maintenance Checklist
Here are some of the course highlights
Online so you can take this course anytime it is convenient for you
You are in control! Start and stop, repeat and watch the videos in whatever order you want
Lifetime access – no limits!
The most comprehensive aquaponic gardening training you will find anywhere
5.5 hours of organized, fascinating learning content!
33 Video / PowerPoint “Mashup” Presentations
12 “Diving Deeper” articles
2 Downloadable Handy Tracking Charts
Based on the Aquaponic Gardening Book
The Udemy Format
We love this format…and we think you will too! Most of the lectures are what is called a Video / Presentation Mashup at Udemy. What that means is that you will see a video of myself or Alan (my husband and partner) talking and demonstrating on the left, and PowerPoint slides on the right with details to keep the concepts straight. But you don’t need to do anything – the slides will just appear at the correct time!
Another nice feature is that you can ask your questions right there on the right side when they actually occur to you. And you can see what questions others have asked, and how they’ve been answered. Maybe one of your fellow classmates was wondering the very same thing!
The Udemy Dashboard
Your personal dashboard is what you will see first when you log into the course. How many lectures you have completed is tracked for you at the top of the page. Then the video lectures are listed within chapters. Once you have stared watching a lesson the bubble next to it will show up in green and you can resume the lecture right where you left off!
At the top, right of the screen you can see the Course Announcements and learn when the next Online Chat session has been scheduled. You can also see your questions and comments, along with other course participants, right below that.
“Diving Deeper” and “Print and Use”
At the end of the course there is a series of articles and blog posts that I’ve written that I think are particularly relevant to new aquaponic gardeners who are smitten with this growing technique (and I hope that is you!) and want to dive deeper. I recommend enjoying them at your leisure either when you are done with the course, or when you just need a break!
“Print and Use” contains two handy charts for tracking your test kit results and for tracking system maintenance.
