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Stanford University Free Class: Design and Analysis of Algorithms I

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Re: Stanford University Free Class: Design and Analysis of Algorithms I

#31

Post by dstein64 »

plinkplonk wrote: post #15

The ideal situation is that other Universities get into the game, so we can pick and choose courses from specific professors - one course from MIT and another from Stanford and so on. Another thing I'd like to see is this idea expanding beyond CS to, say, Math and Physics. Within CS it would be great to see courses on Compilers, Operating Systems and so on. Yes I am greedy :p (and the courses are addictive!)

If you are looking for math video lectures, UCCS posts videos for a bunch of their courses. However, these do not have the features that are on the Stanford sites (e.g., interactive questions).

http://www.uccs.edu/~math/vidarchive.html

Re: Stanford University Free Class: Design and Analysis of Algorithms I

#32

Post by davidtgoldblatt »

plinkplonk wrote: post #14
spicyj wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which Stanford course does this correspond to?

looks like CS 161 https://courseware.stanford.edu/pg/courses/214383/cs-161-fal... Can anyone (at Stanford or otherwise) tell me if there is a follow up course? The (online) course title says "Design and Analysis of Algorithms I". Is there a Design and Analysis of Algorithms II (or III or IV)?

There's the following algorithms class CS 261 (upper-level undergraduate/masters) and CS 361b (mostly aimed at phd students, though undergraduates take it). 161 covers all the material you would expect to see in an undergrad algorithms class. I'd be surprised if 261 or 361b are put online, since they're not usually recorded and (at least when I took them) have between 10 and 20 students.

Re: Stanford University Free Class: Design and Analysis of Algorithms I

#33

Post by porfirio »

Are these classes sustainable? Once a class has been run, how much labor is required of Stanford staffers?

My concern is that Stanford will hold these classes, realize no payoffs besides goodwill, and then quit. It may sound strange, but it'd be comforting to know Stanford is materially benefiting from the classes. If they aren't, I worry they'll stop. I think I won't have time for any classes this semester, as I'm taking some for credit classes elsewhere.

To remedy that, I wonder if Stanford could offer tutoring services for pay, sort of like giving away software and then charging for support. This wouldn't be too different from the status quo where TAs teach undergrads who in turn subsidize graduate instruction. This might create an incentive for Stanford to make classes unnecessarily abstruse (by analogy, making software impossible to use without technical support), but if professors weren't pressured to hit revenue targets, I don't think it would be an issue.

The next step to truly revolutionize education is to grant credits and eventually complete degrees, while lining up employers who would accept these degrees and hire their holders. Currently, online undergraduate education isn't taken seriously, especially by prestige employers.

But this in itself is pretty damn cool, and judging by the reception, superior to all the other means out there for educating oneself.

Re: Stanford University Free Class: Design and Analysis of Algorithms I

#35

Post by zura »

Vivtek wrote: post #10
pcestrada wrote: post #8

I'm stunned... I've already signed up for ML, was thinking crypto, and now this? Some people dream of winning the lottery, I would be happy for a 6 month sabbatical from my full time job to immerse myself in these classes. I've currently taking the AI class and a enjoy it immensely. I feel the my 'bag of programming tools' has grown exponentially with all the stuff I'm learning.

I'm taking ML now and it's pretty darned good.

ML class is good, but I'm bit disappointed regarding programming assignments - it is just a translation of the given math formulas to the Octave/MATLAB syntax.

Re: Stanford University Free Class: Design and Analysis of Algorithms I

#36

Post by plinkplonk »

davidtgoldblatt wrote: post #32
plinkplonk wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

looks like CS 161 https://courseware.stanford.edu/pg/courses/214383/cs-161-fal... Can anyone (at Stanford or otherwise) tell me if there is a follow up course? The (online) course title says "Design and Analysis of Algorithms I". Is there a Design and Analysis of Algorithms II (or III or IV)?

There's the following algorithms class CS 261 (upper-level undergraduate/masters) and CS 361b (mostly aimed at phd students, though undergraduates take it). 161 covers all the material you would expect to see in an undergrad algorithms class. I'd be surprised if 261 or 361b are put online, since they're not usually recorded and (at least when I took them) have between 10 and 20 students.

"I'd be surprised if 261 or 361b are put online, since they're not usually recorded and (at least when I took them) have between 10 and 20 students."

Isn't that the exact reason they should be put online though? If there are say 5,000 students worldwide (vs 150,000 for the AI course) that is still a massive multiple. I sincerely hope Stanford doesn't stop at the "Introduction to X" courses. The upcoming "Probablistic Graphics Models" class seems reasonably advanced, and is hopefully a harbinger of things to come.

Re: Stanford University Free Class: Design and Analysis of Algorithms I

#37

Post by motxilo »

roxtar wrote: post #19

I am guessing there are three more classes to come. That way the rows showing the classes, at the bottom of each class page, will be nice and symmetrical.

To make everything nice and symmetrical, think of a "square" of classes.

Re: Stanford University Free Class: Design and Analysis of Algorithms I

#38

Post by bajsejohannes »

plinkplonk wrote: post #15

The ideal situation is that other Universities get into the game, so we can pick and choose courses from specific professors - one course from MIT and another from Stanford and so on. Another thing I'd like to see is this idea expanding beyond CS to, say, Math and Physics. Within CS it would be great to see courses on Compilers, Operating Systems and so on. Yes I am greedy :p (and the courses are addictive!)

Why stop there? I hope we'll get an online version of every university course out there!

Re: Stanford University Free Class: Design and Analysis of Algorithms I

#39

Post by woodson »

innocentques wrote: post #28

I am amazed that Stanford is taking this idea and running with it. Khan Academy established the need and feasibility of the parallel education system. It is much better than the other types of open course ware. I am beginning to think there are going to be a lot more. And I am desperately wishing for some electrical engineering classes.

EE classes of the signal processing variety?

Re: Stanford University Free Class: Design and Analysis of Algorithms I

#40

Post by signa11 »

zura wrote: post #35
Vivtek wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm taking ML now and it's pretty darned good.

ML class is good, but I'm bit disappointed regarding programming assignments - it is just a translation of the given math formulas to the Octave/MATLAB syntax.

but why ? if it is lack of maths, then you can work through derivations etc by following Christopher bishop's excellent 'neural network for pattern recognition'. for me though, the balance between theory and practice is just right.

also, for some more fun you may want to check out Stanford's uldl page as well, which goes into unsupervised learning and deep-learning architectures.

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