Online classes

[AngryPidgeon]

Does anyone else take them?

I'm not talking about online programs or degrees, but standalone courses.

I'd like to discuss experiences and opinions about sites if you have them.

[Mina]

I've been intermittently trying to learn programming through online courses. I found Udacity extremely helpful--a few of the courses are duds, but others are stellar (thanks to Thesp for the recommendations!) The site is very useful for tech skills. The course materials are available free, although they try hard to push the paid versions with mentors and the nanodegrees on you.

Most of the other resources I used were more online textbooks with sandboxes than full courses, and are only for coding, so I don't know if they're really relevant to the thread (unless someone else is interested in learning as well). I've heard good things about Coursera and edX. Learn-at-your-own-pace MOOCs are better for me than those with rigid deadlines for assignments, though, because my motivation levels swing wildly. (I signed up for a free interactive Python course on Coursera on a whim, but then completely forgot I was even enrolled.)

But online courses are great. I love that nowadays, so many skills can be taught in YouTube videos. I even have a free phone app for learning languages.

[AGar]

I did a few courses on edX two years ago. Had really good experiences with them, the layout of the site and the structure for quizzes/exams was well done. The way it was able to break things down and give me semi-real-time feedback on things pleased me. I would have taken more, as the selection they had was nice, but turns out me and online courses don't mix well and I don't get as much as I should because I either get something when learning it on my own or I don't, no middle ground where I sorta-get it, and if I don't get it, I need someone to baby me through that shit all of the way.

[AngryPidgeon]

@Mina:

I'll check out that site. I'm in software and I've been taking some specific programming classes online. Software is kind of an ever-changing field and while principles remain the same, the field is pretty broad. I'm using Udemy which is an interesting site. They tend to advertise courses at like $200 or so but then have sales for them regularly where they are about 90% off. I'm guessing they expect most people to pay the sale prices and its all a big marketing scheme to make it seem like you are getting a deal. I also signed up for a writing class on a whim after seeing it on sale as mentioned.

So far I'm somewhat impressed with what I see. Some of the material is a bit slow and drawn out. I imagine its geared towards people without much programming experience, but there are some meaty parts as well. I wish it were easier to sift through sometimes, the instructor Rob Percival, is pretty waffly with his material. I'm going through a class on NodeJS now and that one is a bit better pacing so far.

@AGar:

What was the cost of the courses on edX? Thats nice that they have quiz material. The courses I've taken seem fairly flexible but its up to the instructor to upload necessary review material which I often find I'd like more of. I definitely learn better listening to someone explain concepts as opposed to reading about it, so I've enjoyed the online experience so far. I've found that the discussion forums on Udemy for each class are not bad; the instructors or other enrollees will often answer questions posed there quickly.

[Equinox]

The quality of programming courses on Coursera varies, as well. It used to be that you could enroll and do graded assignments for free, but you can't do that anymore for classes starting January 2016. Auditing might be worth it if you have the motivation to work on your own. I've heard very good comments about the interactive Python course that Mina had mentioned. I had good experiences with a few programming courses (two in Python from University of Toronto and one in MATLAB from Vanderbilt University) and a bad experience in one (R from Johns Hopkins University). Discussion varies from course to course, depending on the format and your cohort. Coursera has been seriously pushing paid Specializations lately, so you'll need to search for courses individually if you want to audit.

[Yosarian2]

Before taking my Praxis II test for math, I used Khan Academy to review my calculus and stuff (I was a little rusty, hadn't done it since college) and I thought the lessons on there were great.

[Flubbernugget]

I've been watching the Khan Academy lectures on Macroeconomics

Is there anything that guy doesn't do

[AGar]

@AGar:

What was the cost of the courses on edX? Thats nice that they have quiz material. The courses I've taken seem fairly flexible but its up to the instructor to upload necessary review material which I often find I'd like more of. I definitely learn better listening to someone explain concepts as opposed to reading about it, so I've enjoyed the online experience so far. I've found that the discussion forums on Udemy for each class are not bad; the instructors or other enrollees will often answer questions posed there quickly.

The cost of the courses on edX was free, with options to pay in for "certificates" that they provided if you wanted to opt in, and be on a time-table and have the idea to earn a certain grade as opposed to just understanding the concepts. There were discussion forums which were pretty active, but not a thing I took anything out of because I prefer to try and work through things on my own to get it, or go with a 1-on-1 approach. There were videos for every lecture, usually multiple, and the instructors followed a specific syllabus that was laid out at the beginning of each course. I took a Python course that was set up through MIT, and got fairly well into it - classes and trees were where I went "Welp, fuck this!" but I think that's more indicative of my lacking mental capacity at this point to conceptualize those topics than an indictment of the program. The instructor presented the material very well in his videos, and his explanations were successful for me.

[drmyshottyizsik]

Try Hillsdale college, they do a lot of free online courses.

[Xdaamno]

Online classes are wonderful. They've really exploded the scope of cost-free learning.

Most of those I've taken were before I started college. I'll be watching more of them soon and can't wait to see how they've changed in 4 years.

[Rob14]

Online courses are great for learning skills, especially if free. They're horrible for getting any meaningful credential, unfortunately, unless sponsored by a specific industry organizational body (some actuarial online courses, for instance).

They're fantastic for learning things like coding where you only need the skills, not a fancy degree saying you can do it. I learned how to write basic code through an online course.

[inte]

https://www.mooc-list.com/