Mark Rober To Teach Creative Engineering Class Alongside Online Learning Startup ‘Monthly’

Monthly, a startup that launched last year and hosts 30-day classes from experts in various creative fields — including painting, music, cooking, and more — has just onboarded former NASA engineer and noted YouTube creator Mark Rober to lead a course on creative engineering.

Monthly already offers curriculum from the likes of choreographer Kyle Hanagami and musician Ryan Tedder. The platform differs from other online learning startups, it says, in that participants are asked to produce works of their own by the end of the experience, marking a more active, hands-on process than passive video consumption. During the class, participants are placed into groups of 20 — which can comprise existing friends or randomly-selected strangers — allowing students to ask questions and glean feedback along the way.

Rober’s class will help participants use engineering and science to bring their creative ideas to life. Rober will also share how he researches, designs, assembles, and tests his own inventions. Monthly says students will aim to complete the class with three original builds of their own: one harnessing mechanical engineering, the second utilizing electrical engineering, and the third comprising advanced techniques.

Enrollment for Rober’s class is open now through Dec. 27, for a start date of Jan. 4. Participants pay a one-time fee, which varies from class to class. Rober’s class is typically priced at $499, Monthly says, but is currently on sale for a special launch price of $249.

Monthly says each of its courses runs three to five times per year to account for the involvement of instructors. Once a course concludes, however, participants retain access to all of the materials.

You can check out Rober’s announcement video — in which he says that the Monthly collab has been a year in the making and marks “the biggest thing I’ve ever announced on my channel” — below. That said, this isn’t Rober’s first stab at online teaching. In March, at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic, he started streaming science lessons on his YouTube channel, which counts 15 million subscribers and nabs 50 million monthly views.