I wish that the medical professionals would have suggested classes when they first recommended that I use Dragon after I got repetitive stress injuries several years ago. I struggled with learning Dragon for about a year. I did not have the software properly configured and did not know any better. Getting Dragon without training was very similar to being given a prosthetic without occupational therapy. I stumbled through the Internet and did my best to find information.
I did Dragon’s interactive tutorial and it was useful for learning some of the basic functions, but not enough for me to be really proficient with Dragon. So, I took this LinkedIn Learning workshop, Dragon Naturally Speaking Essential Training (this course has since been archived by LinkedIn Learning and is no longer available). While that course was useful, it did not address how to use Dragon on multiple monitors.
After a long Google search, I found Learn Dragon Online Academy. The program’s video tutorials were very comprehensive. I learned how to properly configure Dragon in the first lessons. I was able to work faster with Dragon and learned how to use Dragon on multiple monitors [at last]. The teacher, Janneke den Draak, was very responsive to my questions about Dragon via email. In addition, there was a monthly live Q&A session via Zoom for her students. These courses were set up under a paid membership, either monthly or yearly. Custom commands were not covered in in-depth in those courses. I learned how to write those from reading a book. Overall, I feel that the Learn Dragon Online Academy was a good investment.
Recently, I found 2 other online sources for learning the basics of Dragon software:
- Udemy has 2 courses: A step-by-step guide for Dragon Users – Part 1 and A step-by-step guide for Dragon Users – Part 2.
- EXAQ.com has 3 live online courses. (I have not taken the Udemy or EXAQ courses and so have no reviews for them.)
When it comes to software, my preference is to get training whenever possible. It’s so much more efficient to work with a framework.
