Author Topic: Coursera  (Read 6298 times)

MgoSam

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Coursera
« on: December 30, 2013, 08:43:25 PM »
Hey,

Has anyone here used Coursera before? If so, was it worth while?

I am interested in taking some courses to learn new concepts and to expand my mind.
 
Also, I'm confused because I tried to register for a few courses and I received an email saying "Welcome to ___" but they aren't appearing in my Course Dashboard. Is that natural? Does it show up once the course starts or what? The site itself doesn't look like it is that well-run.

Jamesqf

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Re: Coursera
« Reply #1 on: December 30, 2013, 08:54:50 PM »
I took a course from them a year or so ago - their startup season.  Frankly, I wasn't all that impressed.  Most of the course content seemed to be video recordings of classroom lectures, and I don't learn very well that way.

MgoSam

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Re: Coursera
« Reply #2 on: December 30, 2013, 09:29:42 PM »
Have you taken another type of course? Any recommendations?

bacchi

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Re: Coursera
« Reply #3 on: December 30, 2013, 09:35:31 PM »
I love Coursera and edX. There are a lot of interesting and challenging courses and it's easy to load up and get overwhelmed.

The Course Dashboard was working this weekend but it's currently broken. Temporary glitch.

Ian

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Re: Coursera
« Reply #4 on: December 30, 2013, 09:43:55 PM »
I know some friends who have taken a number of courses in recent years and their impression was that it was a mixed bag. Lots of lectures, which work much better for some topics (and some learners) than others.

steveo

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Re: Coursera
« Reply #5 on: December 30, 2013, 09:45:34 PM »
I've used Coursera and I think it is great.

Indio

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Re: Coursera
« Reply #6 on: December 31, 2013, 02:36:47 AM »
I've taken 3 classes thru coursera and put the time and effort into finishing 2 of them all from the comfort of my living room couch. As you can imagine, i think online learning is great and opens up educational opportunities to people that might not otherwise have them. For example, a course on sustainability had people in remote parts of mongolia participating. I may be naive but who thought they had internet access there? When there is such a diversity of backgrounds participating in a class it truly brings a unique, global perspective to learning that you dont get when sitting in a classroom.
I'm signed up to take a class on computational neuroscience and another on greenness of products that both start in Jan. I work full time and have 2 young kids so being able to learn about an entirely new topic or area that was available when I was an undergrad or wouldnt normally have access to is a huge thing for me. The online format takes some getting used in the beginning but the professors all seem to be fairly good. I checked them out in rate my prof. Since it's free, there really is no risk associated with it and the best part is that I'm not going into debt to learn something new.

somepissedoffman

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Re: Coursera
« Reply #7 on: December 31, 2013, 12:47:05 PM »
I took a Python class on Coursera, and I really liked it.  I think it was the one through Rice University.  The lectures and projects were really well put together.  I've started some other courses there, and didn't find them as useful.  So, mixed results.

oldtoyota

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Re: Coursera
« Reply #8 on: December 31, 2013, 12:56:43 PM »
You could also try Khan Academy.

Sweet Betsy

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Re: Coursera
« Reply #9 on: December 31, 2013, 07:29:45 PM »
I just finished an Introduction to Financial Accounting Course that was offered by the Wharton Business School.  It was a really well done course and I learned a lot.  I'm also in the process of an Introduction to Finance course offered by the University of Michigan.  It is run completely differently and loses some value set up as an online course as opposed to an actual classroom.  Coursera is free so you aren't risking anything other than your time. The best part is that you can sign up for any course you want and participate up to any level that you are comfortable with. 

I personally think that Coursera and others such as Khan Academy are amazing. What amazing resources at our fingertips. 

firelight

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Re: Coursera
« Reply #10 on: January 01, 2014, 08:20:50 PM »
I've taken a couple of courses and think it depends on the course and professor. Some professors spend a lot of time making the class very good to take while others take minimal effort (which makes taking those courses a pain). It also depends on how much time you are willing to put into the course, if you have the discipline to work on a set schedule (I've completed home works for these courses even during vacation travel/busy time at work) and how good the discussion forums are in the course (some of the best help I've gotten in a course came from my fellow course takers).

Give it a try, if you don't like it you can always drop out!