Free Learnin'

[mdwest]

So I was surfing around looking for a new "personal development" or educational activity to get involved in.. and I stumbled on this by accident.. and thought it might be of interest to some of you guys here...

https://www.coursera.org/

In a nutshell, there are several universities out there (many of them top tier schools, to include a couple of the Ivy League institutions) offering free, online classes... in a wide variety of fields.. everything from business management to geography to music to mathmatics to IT.. etc...

Stanford, Yale, Columbia, Princeton, etc.. are all participating... (as well as Univ of Virginia, Univ of Florida, and several other "good" schools.. in addition to several international schools in Asia, Europe, etc..)...


Has anyone here particpated in any of these types of classess? any feedback is appreciated...

I figure for the price.. you really cant go wrong though...

 

[mwlabel]

They're excellent jump-off points. However, people have to realize that you are not getting the education that these schools offer. Students in those programs have access to many other resources and experiences that aren't included in these online versions.


If you want a fairly basic understanding of X material, they should work well for you. If you want to know all the ins and outs, you will have to supplement it with independent research.

 

[MoJo]

MIT has been doing something similar for a while now where they post all the course material online for free, http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm . Might be worth looking into as well if you interested in it

 

[kenstogie]

I know Berklee was doing some free stuff some paid online stuff. That's the music school ova tha in Boston not the buisiness school. There seems to be so much info/free tutorials out there that you can almost get a free education .... if you have the interest, desire and drive. I would've love that shit when I was a kid and could remember things. Where the $#% are my car keys?

 

[Fallinher0]

Thanks for sharing man, I am for sure going to check this out.

 

[mdwest]

They're excellent jump-off points. However, people have to realize that you are not getting the education that these schools offer. Students in those programs have access to many other resources and experiences that aren't included in these online versions.


If you want a fairly basic understanding of X material, they should work well for you. If you want to know all the ins and outs, you will have to supplement it with independent research.

Agreed...

I dont think this is going to replace a degree... not in terms of what youre going to learn... or be of the same value on a resume.. etc...

but..

I can see where someone that for whatever reason cant go to school could get some real value out of it.. and get some fundamental knowledge.. as well as be able to put a bullet point on the resume that shows that they have pursued education at some level (with a reputable school at that)...

I also see some value in the area that many people pursue "masters certificates".. where someone has a degree in a particular field.. but needs knowledge in another field to become more effective at work.. but doesnt have the time/money/desire to pursue another degree... For example, I've seen a lot of engineers and IT types pursue masters certificates in business when they get senior enough in their fields that their primary responsibilities transition from designing things to managing people that design things and making money in the process..

I can see where picking up a couple of classes on finance and accounting would be of a lot of value to a newly tapped manager at a chemical lab... who was working as a chemist yesterday...

Or where picking up a couple of music theory classess could be of interest to some dude thats been trying learn to write music as a hobby.. etc...