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New courses added to Coursera (Humanities, Medicine, ...)

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Re: New courses added to Coursera (Humanities, Medicine, ...)

#22

Post by sanderjd »

samuel wrote: post #5

All courses on a single page: https://www.coursera.org/courses I see some overlap among the Algorithms classes: Algorithms I,II from Princeton and Design and Analysis of Algorthms I(there will be II?) from Stanford. I don't think that's a good thing... what's the point?

No way! It's a fantastic thing! There is no one best way to teach any subject, and even if there were, who is to say that Coursera is well-positioned to decide what that best way is? Diversity in courses covering the same material in conjunction with good tools to aid in the decision-making process for the student will lead to the best outcomes. It's same reason we have so many different universities - it isn't just because of meatspace scaling limitations.

Re: New courses added to Coursera (Humanities, Medicine, ...)

#24

Post by dhawalhs »

samuel wrote: post #5

All courses on a single page: https://www.coursera.org/courses I see some overlap among the Algorithms classes: Algorithms I,II from Princeton and Design and Analysis of Algorthms I(there will be II?) from Stanford. I don't think that's a good thing... what's the point?

Cool! Didn't know this page existed. I maintain a similar list of courses over at Class Central - http://www.class-central.com . In addition to Coursera's courses the list also includes courses from Udacity and MITx for easy comparison.

Re: New courses added to Coursera (Humanities, Medicine, ...)

#26

Post by stordoff »

samuel wrote: post #5

All courses on a single page: https://www.coursera.org/courses I see some overlap among the Algorithms classes: Algorithms I,II from Princeton and Design and Analysis of Algorthms I(there will be II?) from Stanford. I don't think that's a good thing... what's the point?

Variety of teaching style or approach to the problem (e.g. theory vs. practice) is a good reason for multiple courses in the same subject to be offered. Even if the approach is broadly the same, some students will just prefer one teacher.

Re: New courses added to Coursera (Humanities, Medicine, ...)

#28

Post by liyanchang »

skb_ wrote: post #3
freshfey wrote: post #2

The new courses look great, but what's the point of offering even more courses when they can't even start the announced ones (i.e. Anatomy)?

It seems kind of like they bit off more than they could chew. Even the courses that are now running were delayed 2-3 months. But that's natural for any new venture. I think with more iterations, they'll get better at it.

My guess is that the biggest hurdle isn't the technical challenge but professor retention. I would imagine that some professors sign up but then a big grant or other obligation comes up and they just no longer have the time.

Does anyone know for sure?

Re: New courses added to Coursera (Humanities, Medicine, ...)

#29

Post by temuze »

dudurocha wrote: post #15

Is nice to see courses overlap, like 2 classes of Algorithms. It'll make better courses. And I have to tell you, guys, how much a thrill I feel with these online courses. As a comp. eng. student in brazil, being able to watch classes from stanford and berkely, but not only this, being able to attend classes given by the guys who wrote the books I study with ( Sedgewick and Ullman, for example) makes me very excited a…

I took Sedgewick's class in Princeton :) Fantastic class - one of my favorites.
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