OT: Coursera

Subject: OT: Coursera
Author: Huinesoron
Posted on: 2013-09-05 12:59:00 UTC

About a year ago, we ran across a fundamentally awesome website called Coursera. This is a site where you can take university-level courses, absolutely free! And by 'university level', I mean actual university professors from actual universities (as opposed to, say, the University of Power Cable, Nebraska) record audio-visual lecture courses running about 8-12 weeks, with (usually) weekly quizzes, and often some form of assignments or end-of-unit tests.

The sign-ups for each course tend to run into the tens of thousands, and at least in my experience, they always have very active forums, with teaching assistants to act as moderators and answer questions. For most courses all you 'get' at the end is a certificate of completion, but I believe some offer a 'Signature Track' which means the university will verify that you actually took the course.

Of course, what you actually get from the course is a heap of knowledge - in whatever subject you choose, for whatever reason you choose. The second course I did was Analytical Chemistry: Instrumental Analysis from Rice University. It was directly relevant to my job (I'm an analytical chemist), so that was actually helpful.

My other two courses were purely for fun. I did Introduction to Astronomy with Duke University, and Archaeology's Dirty Little Secrets with Brown - which, I have to say, was incredibly good. Sue Alcock, the professor, put a heck of a lot of work into the course, and had a massive team. The course did a brilliant job of merging the theoretical and practical sides of archaeology, and if (when!) she runs it again, I highly recommend this course.

But enough about me. ;) Has anyone else done anything on Coursera, or any similar site? How did you find it? I've had universally good experiences - how has it worked out for you?

hS

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OT: Coursera by Huinesoron on 2013-09-05 12:59:00 UTC

Re: OT: Coursera by EileenAlphabet on 2013-09-10 09:07:00 UTC Reply

I did a Coursera course in fantastic litterature. It was a very good experience, although I ended up not completing it. The amount of text I had to read each week ended up being too much, what with me having a full time job and also wanting to sleep every now and then.
But it did teach me a lot about looking for underlying themes in litterature. The 'thesis' that every work is putting forth and defending.
Coursera! by Techno-Dann on 2013-09-06 05:57:00 UTC Reply

I'm taking a programming languages class this fall - it starts next month, and it is going to be fun.
I've actually used YouTube by the Irish Samurai on 2013-09-05 22:18:00 UTC Reply

It's not interactive like what you've described, but there are a whole bunch of MIT lectures (and possibly stuff from other places too, I dunno, I didn't really look any further than the MIT stuff) that you can watch online.

They've got videos of the full lecture courses for a range of topics available.

I watched the courses on Vibrations and Waves and Electricity and Magnetism to help me understand electromagnetism well enough to do some electromagnetic simulation work for my previous company, despite my background being purely mechanical engineering.

That's pretty cool. by Huinesoron on 2013-09-09 16:03:00 UTC Reply

I guess one of the advantages of that approach is that you don't have to wait for the course to come around, and can do it in your own time. Additionally, I don't think the really big names like MIT are using Coursera much.

The advantages of Coursera are that you get assignments which are graded, and also the chance to interact with both other students and the course staff. So it's sort of a swings and roundabouts thing.

hS

It is pretty cool... by the Irish Samurai on 2013-09-09 21:36:00 UTC Reply

But in a way its biggest strength is its greatest weakness.

The fact that they're all up there, ready to view at any time you choose, is really helpful. And unlike real lectures, if you don't quite get a bit you can just rewind and watch it again.

But because it just passive viewing, with no kind incentive other than your own interest, it's very> easy to procrastinate and then just kind of forget about. Also, if rewinding and watching again doesn't help you understand, you can't ask any questions.

Still, it worked for me, although this Coursera thing sounds interesting too. The graded assignments might actually give me more of an incentive to stick with it.

Hmm. by Karen DuLay on 2013-09-05 19:02:00 UTC Reply

This sounds pretty interesting. But I will admit to some skepticism, mostly on the basis that 1. The classes are free and 2. There is no such thing as a "free hug."

What you've said sounds awesome, don't get me wrong, and I am tempted to look into these classes. But in my experience, there's always a catch...so what is it? The fact that you typically can't get recognition from the university that "hosted" the class is a drawback, but for someone who just wants to learn things, it isn't much of one.

Well, I haven't found a catch. by Huinesoron on 2013-09-06 16:38:00 UTC Reply

I guess what that question really means is 'What do the universities get out of it?', which is a decent question. I guess part of it is advertising, and possibly funding, but I honestly don't know.

At the user's end, though, it's entirely free, other than the time commitment; the information is accurate, and conveyed by real professionals - AdmiralSakai mentions Andrew Ng of Stanford, who is apparently 'one of the world's leading experts in artificial intelligence'. So at least at the moment, there doesn't seem to be a catch.

Oh, they do require ownership of your immortal soul. Is that important?

hS

Wow. Really? by Karen DuLay on 2013-09-06 22:58:00 UTC Reply

I mean, my immortal soul's no big, it's currently on lease to my employers, but I suppose long-term ownership is up for grabs right now...

But it does sound pretty sweet if there's no catch. Time is one thing I have enough of right now, so if it's really all you need to commit...

Hooray! by Kaitlyn on 2013-09-05 16:25:00 UTC Reply

I've finished two courses on Coursea -- one about contraception (very light and fluffy), one on human physiology (kicked my butt). I'm taking -- hold on, counting on my fingers -- three at the moment?

Two are very quick to race through every week, one's a bit more time-consuming (global health). And actually the Vaccines course, which is supposed to be just a couple of hours a week, is taking a *lot* more time than that just to keep up with all the smallpox-eradication deniers in the discussion forums. People are crazy in the most unexpected directions these days.

I'm also taking a course from edX, which is similar to Coursera. I find that Coursera is a lot easier to navigate, though.

Ooh, yours sound cool. by Neshomeh on 2013-09-05 17:26:00 UTC Reply

But, wait, what? Smallpox-eradication deniers? What exactly are they denying? I mean, I understand that there are some specimens locked up in the CDC and such, but...?

~Neshomeh

Well . . . by Kaitlyn on 2013-09-06 14:43:00 UTC Reply

Because viruses are very small, how could we ever know that we'd gotten rid of all of them? There might be a remote isolated case of latent/mutated smallpox virus in the Amazon rainforest somewhere.

Also, the WHO are covering it up.

. . . I'm not really sure what they're denying, and to be honest I don't think they know either. But they certainly don't understand how infectious diseases work. It's wildly entertaining.

I've head of it, too. by Neshomeh on 2013-09-05 15:04:00 UTC Reply

And it may well be something I'll look into if I'm ever not massively consumed with things. It used to be that I didn't think I could make myself do an online course, but I manage to do my online job, so maybe it's a possibility. How involved were the assignments in the courses you took? Homework has always been my big stumbling block.

~Neshomeh

On the level of involvement by Huinesoron on 2013-09-05 16:03:00 UTC Reply

It really does depend on the course. From what I've seen, every course has tests/quizzes, and a fair number have peer assessment assignments. To run through my three examples:

-IntroAstro had no peer review stuff, but was a physics course. The weekly tests were stuffed with maths, and so took a lot of time - I think about two hours per week, and I'm good at maths.

-Instrumental Analysis had two levels of quizzes - the simple 'were you watching the lecture' type, which took about ten minutes each (two per week), and the more in-depth ones. Again, it was a science course, but chemistry - particularly instrumental chemistry - is way less maths-heavy than astronomy. I'd say maybe an hour at most for those tests, but less on some weeks. It also had three 'peer assessed' assignments, spaced out over the length of the course. These were basically essay question quizzes (the standard quizzes are usually either numerical or multiple-choice); I don't think they took that long, maybe 3-4 hours. Then you're required to mark some (peer assessment, remember?), but there's usually a decent grading rubric. Say an hour, hour and a half total per assignment.

-Archaeology had a weekly quiz which was entirely multiple-choice - basically just to check if you'd watched the videos and read the links. They never took me more than 10 minutes. It also had weekly peer-reviews, 'Archaeological Exercises'. We actually got to choose from three options each week, and the choices ranged from 'Find out about an archaeologist and write about the tools they had available' to 'Make a 3D model of something' to 'Write your name in Cuneiform'.

In that case, the assignments were great fun, but occasionally time-consuming. On the one hand, Week 1's applying archaeological terminology to my office took maybe half an hour. On the other hand, my video for Week 7 took about five hours, maybe more, to put it all together. In general, though, the expected time per assignment was 1-3 hours, and you only had to do one a week.

Then we were required to assess five other students' work. The grading was literally a score of 0, 1, 2 or 3, and a little bit of constructive criticism, but it still ate up time. Let's say an hour all told for each week's peer reviewing. Of course, the assignments offered enough scope that it didn't get boring...

So, a summary:

-IntroAstro: Maybe 4-5 hours a week watching videos and taking notes, and 2 hours answering tests.

-Instrumental Analysis: Maybe 2-3 hours of videos/notes per week, an hour and a half of tests, and three times in the 8-week course, about 5-6 hours of assignment and peer review work.

-Archaeology: Maybe 2 hours of (incredibly awesome) videos per week, plus half an hour of reading, ten minutes on a quiz, and a total of around 3-4 hours assessment/peer review per week.

And it looks like the courses themselves back me up on this - they all seem to claim either 4-6 or 6-8 hours of work per week. That's only about an hour each night!

hS

PS: Hi there, Toey!

Hmm. by Neshomeh on 2013-09-05 17:32:00 UTC Reply

It sounds so reasonable in theory. ^_^;

Though, since it's free, there's really no consequence (besides personal shame) for not following through, right? Or do they kick you out if you don't keep up with the work?

~Neshomeh

Nope, they don't kick you out. ;) by Huinesoron on 2013-09-06 17:01:00 UTC Reply

There's actually a whole bunch of people who watch the videos but don't do any of the assignments. You won't get a Certificate of Accomplishment at the end, but you still get all the knowledge.

That being the case, though, I think it's better to at least try for the certificate - it's ever so much more rewarding, and doing something is usually the best way to learn about it.

(ALSO ALSO WIK: personal shame is the worst consequence other than all the worse ones)

hS

WIK? (nm) by son_of_heaven176 on 2013-09-06 21:57:00 UTC Reply

No, also also wik. by Huinesoron on 2013-09-07 15:33:00 UTC Reply

You may want to watch this video.

hS

*heard of it. Curse you, Toey! >. by Neshomeh on 2013-09-05 15:06:00 UTC Reply

I think I've heard of this by Phobos on 2013-09-05 14:46:00 UTC Reply

Or at least something similar. It was on the Colbert Report not too long ago.

This is really awesome. I am going to have to check out what they have to offer. I could always use some more knowledge.

-Phobos
Re: OT: Coursera by AdmiralSakai on 2013-09-05 13:47:00 UTC Reply

Machine Learning with Stanford's wonderful Andrew Ng. I have literally studied with one of the world's leading experts in artificial intelligence... and it was AWESOME!

Psst is it okay if I giggle a little at your username? by Lily Winterwood on 2013-09-05 14:36:00 UTC Reply

Because Sakai is one of those teaching tools (kinda like Blackboard if you know what that is) that we use at my school.

It was just extremely fitting, shhh.

Re: Psst is it okay if I giggle a little at your username? by AdmiralSakai on 2013-09-05 16:56:00 UTC Reply

I honestly don't remember where this username came FROM, so it's perfectly all right.