Coursera? Que Será, Será!

jasonp · 2013-03-21, 16:40

Many of you have expressed interest in online classes; I recently became aware of Coursera, 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.

TED talk by one of its founders

bsquared · 2013-03-21, 18:03

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

chalsall · 2013-03-21, 18:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by jasonp

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.

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....

xilman · 2013-03-21, 18:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by bsquared

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

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 ...

Paul

bsquared · 2013-03-21, 18:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by xilman

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 ...

Paul

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.

chappy · 2013-03-21, 19:13

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

xilman · 2013-03-21, 19:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by bsquared

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.

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^* 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.

chalsall · 2013-03-21, 19:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by xilman

Each of the courses will be useful to my other activities. Yes, I am working to help characterize exoplanets ...

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

Quote:

Originally Posted by xilman

I'm still trying to work out what I want to do when I grow up.

Aren't we all?

kladner · 2013-03-21, 21:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by chalsall

Aren't we all?

Yes.

jasonp · 2013-03-22, 01:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by chalsall

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

That would be ideal! (Though I suppose for study time it would be better to use IRC or something)

kracker · 2013-03-22, 01:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by jasonp

That would be ideal! (Though I suppose for study time it would be better to use IRC or something)

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

2013-03-21, 16:40	#1
jasonp Tribal Bullet Oct 2004 3×1,181 Posts	Coursera? Que Será, Será! Many of you have expressed interest in online classes; I recently became aware of Coursera, 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. TED talk by one of its founders Last fiddled with by jasonp on 2013-03-21 at 16:40

2013-03-21, 18:03	#2
bsquared "Ben" Feb 2007 3522₁₀ Posts	I've taken the Cryptography class and the Heterogeneous parallel programming class. Both excellent, and free! Agree - coursera rocks.

2013-03-21, 19:13	#6
chappy "Jeff" Feb 2012 St. Louis, Missouri, USA 1157₁₀ Posts	Way too many choices. I'm still brushing up on my high school german on Duolingo. :)