SunshineMom Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 Coursera is a "world university" offering free college courses (lectures, tests, certification, global forums, student acceleration/adaptions) from university professors. An amazing resource opportunity offering courses in science, humanities, history, computer sciences, and arts. Ted Talk about Coursera Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwi mum Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 Were you wanting some discussion on this? It isn't clear from your post what you were looking for. If you type "coursera" into the search box you will find over 40 threads discussing it already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SunshineMom Posted December 10, 2012 Author Share Posted December 10, 2012 Sorry, I forgot to add my question. Is anyone using it with a younger student? How does the coursework differ from other free online classes? I enrolled myself in an Ancient Greek class but as I was looking over all the classes my dd9 was interested in several classes (history, reasoning, animal behavior). If she wanted to do a class, I would do it with her, it would be for fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomatHWTK Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 I took the Computer Science 101 class on behalf (with) my 11 y.o. He really enjoyed the class and was able to do answer questions better than I. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YourFidgetyFriend Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 I took a python class and some of a cryptography course and there were quite a few 13yos in the class on the discussion board taking the class independently. It could work with some students a bit younger if an adult is working with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BugsMama Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 I think it fully depends on the content.... I'm taking an astronomy course right now that is a beast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 I think it fully depends on the content.... I'm taking an astronomy course right now that is a beast. Is this Plesser's course (the Duke one)? would you recommend it as a learning experience? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BugsMama Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 It is, and I would. lots and lots of physical based math, and a huge challenge. I don't know what I expected, but not this much math! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaners Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 That astronomy class is a bit more intense than I'd expected. I convinced my husband to tag along with me on that one, and while I've done calculus etc in the math dept and physics and chemistry in the last decade...he hasn't. Still, the lectures have been excellent, and they showcase a lot of the "traditional" easily demonstrated but impressive examples of phenomena. I'm also finishing up the Rice Python class. My 5 year old loves to watch those lectures. She (thankfully) isn't ready to actually do that programming just yet. I think that many younger children can get a lot out of the lectures even if they aren't able to provide the output a certificate would require. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BugsMama Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Not to totally hijack the thread- but beaners, you have no idea how glad I am that we now have three weeks for each homework set, which means extra time to rewatch and rework week 2! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaners Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Same here! I finished both problem sets, but I'm not sure if what I calculated was exactly what they were looking for on some of the questions in 2A. 2B was more straightforward. I was trying to attempt every problem, and I really didn't get a chance to give all the problems as much time as I would have liked. I have two other courses that finish this week, so I'll be happy to be able to devote more time to this class once those are done. Between that and the longer deadlines, I think I'll be able to stick it out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 It is, and I would. lots and lots of physical based math, and a huge challenge. I don't know what I expected, but not this much math! thanks. okay, not for me this year. AND: whoo-hoo to you for doing this course! hurrah! encouragement and celebration! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.