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Coursera is phasing out free certificates

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Re: Coursera is phasing out free certificates

#31

Post by sadkingbilly »

joelgrus wrote: post #5

Honestly, if someone's resume tells me they took (say) the Coursera Natural Language Processing course, never in a million years would it occur to me to ask to see the certificate, any more than I'd ask to see their transcript to verify that they took specific classes in college. And vice versa, I have lots of Coursera courses on my resume, no one has ever asked to see my certificates either.

Same. Even if they did, just take a screenshot of the "Course Records" screen that proves you took the class and the grade. Besides, you can still download the Statement of Accomplishment.

Re: Coursera is phasing out free certificates

#32

Post by runn1ng »

joepie91_ wrote: post #22
lukaslalinsky wrote: post #2

I honestly don't understand this. The article talks about revolutionizing the world of education and yet expects the online courses to give out certifications, like classical schools do. The free online courses exist so that you have free access to education, not that you have a piece of something that you can show to people. That might be an added benefit, and I see nothing wrong with strict requirements and chargin…

While that is correct from a purely educational point of view, it's unfortunately not currently true from a social point of view. There are expectations of certification in many industries, and the assumption is often made that without a certificate, you do not have the knowledge. In the IT world, this isn't really a thing, but outside it, it often is. It's therefore completely reasonable to expect a 'replacement for…

Yes, but frankly, does anyone ever accept MOOC certificates? All the employers I have met usually skip the MOOC part of my resume entirely.

Re: Coursera is phasing out free certificates

#34

Post by wolfgke »

runn1ng wrote: post #32
joepie91_ wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While that is correct from a purely educational point of view, it's unfortunately not currently true from a social point of view. There are expectations of certification in many industries, and the assumption is often made that without a certificate, you do not have the knowledge. In the IT world, this isn't really a thing, but outside it, it often is. It's therefore completely reasonable to expect a 'replacement for…

Yes, but frankly, does anyone ever accept MOOC certificates? All the employers I have met usually skip the MOOC part of my resume entirely.

You might have the impression that they skipped it. I, in opposite, claim that it showed the employer that you are very willing to upgrade your education on your own.

Re: Coursera is phasing out free certificates

#35

Post by [deleted] »

ColinWright wrote: post #25

People in other comments are saying the certificates are pointless, or useless, or never needed. In contrast to their claims, recently when applying for a job I was asked for proof that I really do have a PhD. I have no idea where the certificate is, and pointed out in an email that certificates can, these days, easily be faked. To provide a certificate merely gives them grounds later, if they find I don't have a PhD…

[deleted]

Re: Coursera is phasing out free certificates

#36

Post by mkozlows »

ColinWright wrote: post #25

People in other comments are saying the certificates are pointless, or useless, or never needed. In contrast to their claims, recently when applying for a job I was asked for proof that I really do have a PhD. I have no idea where the certificate is, and pointed out in an email that certificates can, these days, easily be faked. To provide a certificate merely gives them grounds later, if they find I don't have a PhD…

It's not the case that all credentials are worthless -- but it is the case that a Coursersa "statement of accomplishment" is. If you take a Coursera course, it should be for the interest of learning something, not for the credentials, because nobody will ever care about those credentials.

(I suspect the point of what they're doing here is to make it so people will care about them -- if you can't get the credentials for free, it makes them rarer and therefore more valuable maybe eventually.)

Re: Coursera is phasing out free certificates

#37

Post by [deleted] »

Sven7 wrote: post #26
kiloreux wrote: post #6

While what the OP mentioned is True , what i really think is that the real value of MOOCs is not in the certificate (it not that much important especially from MOOC providers) but the opportunity that it creates for people to gain knowledge , and personally speaking , MOOCs have changed my life , i live in 3rd world country where the quality of education is worse than you can imagine, but thanks to Coursera, Edx and…

How did learning new things change your life?

[deleted]

Re: Coursera is phasing out free certificates

#38

Post by icebraining »

Sven7 wrote: post #26
kiloreux wrote: post #6

While what the OP mentioned is True , what i really think is that the real value of MOOCs is not in the certificate (it not that much important especially from MOOC providers) but the opportunity that it creates for people to gain knowledge , and personally speaking , MOOCs have changed my life , i live in 3rd world country where the quality of education is worse than you can imagine, but thanks to Coursera, Edx and…

How did learning new things change your life?

What's the point of asking, if learning the answer won't change yours? :)

Re: Coursera is phasing out free certificates

#39

Post by andyidsinga »

brudgers wrote: post #8

In my experience over about a dozen completed courses and many more with less attentive participation, Certificate policies vary from course to course. Some of it is due to policies of the sponsoring institution, some is due to the business transaction between the institution or the instructor and Coursera. There's a whole host of branding issues that come with putting Blub State University on a course description. A…

nice touch with the blub reference :)

(thinking to myself: how can put blub state on my linkedin profile)

more seriously though, to your points about Coursera and VC liquidation timelines: We need coursera like moocs that are "B-Corps" or similar http://sos.oregon.gov/business/Pages/benefit-company.aspx .

I made some comments along similar lines in the comment section of this post : http://continuations.com/post/119930478310/going-past-capita... - ironically a VC's blog, but don't prejudge - he's also a philosopher of sorts and has some good ides.

Re: Coursera is phasing out free certificates

#40

Post by harperlee »

chris_wot wrote: post #19
wolfgke wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nearly all personnel managers don't have the knowledge to examine whether the candidate has a solid knowledge in an area or not. So in my opinion it makes a lot of sense to rather trust in institutions (in particular universities) that have.

What you have here is a broken hiring and personnel process.

Even if they can, testing that is costly. So en entity providing proxy measuring of actual knowledge - the acquisition of the certificate - is valuable, and rational. There are shortcomings, obviously, in each measure or simplified model of every reality. For example old certificates lose informative value. That's why, for example, language certificated such as TOEFL are only valid for some time. There are other certificates, though, that probably have an expiration date for business purposes (e.g. GMAT is valid for 5 years, but it basically measures general IQ and analytic capabilities, which shouldn't change a lot in five years, IMHO).
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