Coursera? Que Será, Será!
 

Many of you have expressed interest in online classes; I recently became aware of [url="https://www.coursera.org/"]Coursera[/url], which looks both free and awesome. I'll be starting Stanford's machine learning class next month. I see at least four classes after it that I'd also like to take.

[url="http://www.ted.com/talks/daphne_koller_what_we_re_learning_from_online_education.html"]TED talk by one of its founders[/url]

I've taken the Cryptography class and the Heterogeneous parallel programming class. Both excellent, and free! Agree - coursera rocks.

[QUOTE=jasonp;334373]I'll be starting Stanford's machine learning class next month. I see at least four classes after it that I'd also like to take.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the link to the TED Talk. I've forwarded it to several of my colleges.

I've also signed up for the Machine Learning class. Perhaps we could form a "virtual study group" here?

I tried Udacity's AI course last year, but to be honest I found Sebastian Thrun to be a terrible lecturer -- obviously very passionate about AI, but he couldn't teach his way out of a paper bag. And the course delivery was very buggy (admittedly, it was early days).

I only got to the mid-term (with "good grades"). I only had 24 hours to complete it, and ironically Clueless and Worthless (read: Cable and Wireless -- my ISP) dropped my connection for 18 of those hours....

[QUOTE=bsquared;334382]I've taken the Cryptography class and the Heterogeneous parallel programming class. Both excellent, and free! Agree - coursera rocks.[/QUOTE]I'm tempted by the latter class too. I just don't know whether I'll be able to find enough time to do it justice.

There's a nice one on exoplanets too. That would be helpful to me but, again, time pressures ... :sad:

Paul

[QUOTE=xilman;334384]I'm tempted by the latter class too. I just don't know whether I'll be able to find enough time to do it justice.

There's a nice one on exoplanets too. That would be helpful to me but, again, time pressures ... :sad:

Paul[/QUOTE]

That's the great thing about Coursera, there are no obligations. I unfortunately crapped out of the HPP course toward the end... just didn't have enough time to see it through. So I missed getting their "certificate" by a few percentage points. But so what! I'm out $0.00. And I did learn a lot.

:goodposting:

Way too many choices. I'm still brushing up on my high school german on Duolingo. :)

[QUOTE=bsquared;334386]That's the great thing about Coursera, there are no obligations. I unfortunately crapped out of the HPP course toward the end... just didn't have enough time to see it through. So I missed getting their "certificate" by a few percentage points. But so what! I'm out $0.00. And I did learn a lot.[/QUOTE]It's obligations to my own self-esteem that concerns me, together with what else might suffer if I take on more activities. At this stage of my career[sup]*[/sup] I truly don't care about certifcates and the like.

That said, I may dip into one or both of the introductory videos. Each of the courses will be useful to my other activities. Yes, I am working to help characterize exoplanets ...

Paul

* "Career" is rather a misnomer but I can't think of a better term. I'm still trying to work out what I want to do when I grow up.

[QUOTE=xilman;334393]Each of the courses will be useful to my other activities. Yes, I am working to help characterize exoplanets ...[/QUOTE]

Consider it an audit of a course. Or reading a good book on the subject. (But with feedback.)

[QUOTE=xilman;334393]I'm still trying to work out what I want to do when I grow up.[/QUOTE]

Aren't we all?

[QUOTE=chalsall;334394]Aren't we all?[/QUOTE]

Yes.

[QUOTE=chalsall;334383]
I've also signed up for the Machine Learning class. Perhaps we could form a "virtual study group" here?
[/QUOTE]
That would be ideal! (Though I suppose for study time it would be better to use IRC or something)

[QUOTE=jasonp;334449]That would be ideal! (Though I suppose for study time it would be better to use IRC or something)[/QUOTE]

I've brought up the idea of IRC for this forum but, :max:

[U]Starting tomorrow[/U] (after being announced only last Monday, I now find out):

"Science of Climate Change" on Coursera
[url]https://www.coursera.org/course/globalwarming[/url]

More explanation plus samples of graphics from the course:
[url]http://www.skepticalscience.com/Science-Climate-Change-online-class-Coursera.html[/url]