Free online classes from Duke, CalTech, Johns Hopkins etc.

A forum for the off topic stuff. Everything from religion to philosophy to sex to humor (see why it used to be called Buggery?). All manner of rude psychological abuse is welcome and encouraged.
Post Reply
Merlyn
Magnum Jihad
Location: Denver-Ish
Contact:

Free online classes from Duke, CalTech, Johns Hopkins etc.

Post by Merlyn » Sun Aug 12, 2012 10:42 am

Yeah, I said free. Not talking about underwater basket weaving either - here's the class categories being offered by 16 major universities for free online:

Biology & Life Sciences
Computer Science: Programming & Software Engineering
Economics & Finance
Health and Society & Medical Ethics
Mathematics
Statistics, Data Analysis, and Scientific Computing
Business & Management
Computer Science: Systems, Security, Networking
Education
Humanities and Social Sciences
Medicine
Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Vision
Computer Science: Theory
Electrical and Materials Engineering
Information, Technology, and Design
Physical & Earth Sciences

The website is: https://www.coursera.org/

So much for that whole "every leaving my house again" thing. I may be a troglodyte, but I am going to be a fucking well educated troglodyte.

Merlyn


- 2007 FXD/Dyna SuperGlide - Black Betty
- 1986 Intruder 700 - Work in Progress

Some days you can look to your left as you ride and see your Valkyrie- pacing you and waiting for her moment...
Days like that, the only appropriate reaction is to call out "Let's dance, beautiful!" and then twist the throttle to it's stop.

Remember, folks- Your vote means fuck-all. If voting could actually change anything it would have been outlawed long ago.
The only votes that mean anything in this day and age are made from rooftops.

User avatar
Bigshankhank
Fully Autonomous Cock-Puncher
Location: Exiled to Living in a Van Down By The River
Contact:

Post by Bigshankhank » Sun Aug 12, 2012 1:08 pm

MIT did this a while back, also. Of course, you do not get credits toward a degree...
It's time for Humankind to ditch the imaginary friends of our species' childhood and grow the fuck up.
-Davros

"Lasse mich deine Seele dem Herrscher der Finsternis opfern"

Let me sacrifice your soul to the ruler of darkness

Always carry a bottle of whiskey when you travel in case of a snakebite. Futhermore, always carry a small snake.

User avatar
DerGolgo
Zaphod's Zeitgeist
Location: Potato

Post by DerGolgo » Sun Aug 12, 2012 11:26 pm

There's more and more of that around, and that's a good thing.
I think the well established educational institutions are embarrassed into providing such services by the success of the Khan Academy.
Before that, of course, there was (and still is) Open Course Ware, the MIT thing which has expanded to include other institutions.

Other materials are offered by
Rice
University of Michigan
and these guys
http://www.flatworldknowledge.com/

I like this. Yeah, you can't get a degree this way now, but it's a step in the right direction - you can get the knowledge, which is useful in and off itself. Degrees will eventually come, too, though probably not for free. Still, of the maybe three things which make the internet truly important on a civilization level, putting the sum of man's knowledge at your fingertips is, I think, one of the bigger ones, and these projects go there. Which is awesome.
If there were absolutely anything to be afraid of, don't you think I would have worn pants?

I said I have a big stick.

Post Reply