Nora Charles (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
noracharles) wrote2012-04-25 10:44 am
noracharles) wrote2012-04-25 10:44 am
Free online university courses
I miss uni very much. Last week I went to a lecture about the Arabian spring arranged by Kvinfo, and it was brilliant, but to my disappointment the vast majority of their activities are in Copenhagen. (Typisk københavneri, øv.) It's the wrong time of year to audit classes at SDU, and it might also be too awkward to do it. Not all the teachers permit it, and I have been thrown out of a class once for not preparing well enough that my presence was a benefit to others, which was the condition the teacher had.
Today I learned about Coursera, a free social network that offers genuine university lectures, regular tests and homework to ensure learning, and online forums/studygroups. Because of the built-in deadlines and the way you must complete assignments to progress, it looks more suited to my needs than downloading podcasts of lectures (I listen to the first one then forget about it) or following organized reading blogs (I skim what others have to say but don't do the assigned readings myself).
Completing a course will not give you any official credit, but I want to learn stuff and I want to have an interesting hobby. So far I have signed up for the class Fantasy and Science Fiction: The Human Mind, Our Modern World, taught by Eric Rabkin of the University of Michigan, which will start 23 July 2012. It will be nice and comforting to have a subject I'm familiar with, and I hope some of you will join me.
I'll also sign up for some computer classes, and hope the 101 level is easy enough for me to follow with my background.
Today I learned about Coursera, a free social network that offers genuine university lectures, regular tests and homework to ensure learning, and online forums/studygroups. Because of the built-in deadlines and the way you must complete assignments to progress, it looks more suited to my needs than downloading podcasts of lectures (I listen to the first one then forget about it) or following organized reading blogs (I skim what others have to say but don't do the assigned readings myself).
Completing a course will not give you any official credit, but I want to learn stuff and I want to have an interesting hobby. So far I have signed up for the class Fantasy and Science Fiction: The Human Mind, Our Modern World, taught by Eric Rabkin of the University of Michigan, which will start 23 July 2012. It will be nice and comforting to have a subject I'm familiar with, and I hope some of you will join me.
I'll also sign up for some computer classes, and hope the 101 level is easy enough for me to follow with my background.