4 ms·

Ask HN: What were some good MOOCs you participated in in 2013?

5 points by chl 13y ago

oakenclast 13y ago
Maps and the Geospatial Revolution on Coursera
chl 13y ago
All in all, Eric Lander's 7.00x (Introduction to Biology) probably was the best of all the courses I completed in 2013. Lander is a fantastic lecturer -- it wasn't uncommon that his lectures (or shall I say performances) ended in applause. Going beyond "just" videos and multiple-choice quizzes, the MITx folks built/assembled an impressive array of mostly web-based tools (e.g. a 3D molecule viewer, a molecule editor, a simplified version of genome viewers used by actual biologists) to support the learning enterprise. Here's a glowing review that (unlike my scribblings here) starts to do the 7.00x experience justice: http://okazakifragments.wordpress.com/2013/05/29/the-best-mooc-ever-just-ended/comment-page-1/ http://okazakifragments.wordpress.com/2013/05/29/the-best-mo...
jacalata 13y ago
I really enjoyed Programming Languages by Dan Grossman (U. Washington) on Coursera. Well organised course, smoothly run. https://class.coursera.org/proglang-002 https://class.coursera.org/proglang-002
krrishd 13y ago
Startup Engineering from Stanford on Coursera. Life changer for me.
michael_fine 13y ago
Intro to Machine Learning on Coursera was pretty great, just the right level of difficulty for a novice high schooler.
- krrishd 13y ago
  I'm a high schooler. My knowledge is mainly in the front-end realm, with the vast majority of 'programming' I do being in JavaScript. Do you think I would be able to take it successfully?
  - lucasrp 13y ago
    Im a beginner um programming, and did machine learning course right after a introdutory course (CS50 and 6.00x at Edx). I've been able to do the whole course, but only because i have good math skills. My impression is that math skills (calculus and linear algebra) are much more needed than coding skills in this course.
    - krrishd 13y ago
      Im currently taking calculus, but im not sure if I have already dealt with linear algebra before. Is it its own subject, or does Algebra and Algebra II cover the content?
waynerad 13y ago
Machine Learning. I thought it was a really tough class and took more time than they say (they say workload: 5-7 hours/week -- maybe if you are perfect and your code never has bugs that you need to spend time debugging -- the course is based on programming assignments in Octave where you have to demonstrate mastery of machine learning concepts), but I put in a lot of extra time, mastered everything, finished with a 100. Andrew Ng is a top-notch teacher, even though his speaking style is very low-key. https://www.coursera.org/course/ml https://www.coursera.org/course/ml
- deleted 13y ago
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tjr 13y ago
Learning Creative Learning: http://learn.media.mit.edu http://learn.media.mit.edu (for as long as they keep the site up anyway) Introduced me to some new ideas about learning, and solidified some ambiguous thoughts I already had. Much fun.
vijucat 13y ago
I finally made time for "Functional Programming in Scala" and it was fun. However, I must add that when I tried to use Scala in the real-world, it was considerably more complicated due to implicits, CanBuildFrom, and other "invisible hands" (not merely synactic sugar, mind you).
deleted 13y ago
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5 points by chl 13y ago

Maps and the Geospatial Revolution on Coursera

chl 13y ago

All in all, Eric Lander's 7.00x (Introduction to Biology) probably was the best of all the courses I completed in 2013. Lander is a fantastic lecturer -- it wasn't uncommon that his lectures (or shall I say performances) ended in applause. Going beyond "just" videos and multiple-choice quizzes, the MITx folks built/assembled an impressive array of mostly web-based tools (e.g. a 3D molecule viewer, a molecule editor, a simplified version of genome viewers used by actual biologists) to support the learning enterprise. Here's a glowing review that (unlike my scribblings here) starts to do the 7.00x experience justice: http://okazakifragments.wordpress.com/2013/05/29/the-best-mooc-ever-just-ended/comment-page-1/ http://okazakifragments.wordpress.com/2013/05/29/the-best-mo...

jacalata 13y ago

I really enjoyed Programming Languages by Dan Grossman (U. Washington) on Coursera. Well organised course, smoothly run. https://class.coursera.org/proglang-002 https://class.coursera.org/proglang-002

krrishd 13y ago

Startup Engineering from Stanford on Coursera. Life changer for me.

michael_fine 13y ago

Intro to Machine Learning on Coursera was pretty great, just the right level of difficulty for a novice high schooler.

krrishd 13y ago
I'm a high schooler. My knowledge is mainly in the front-end realm, with the vast majority of 'programming' I do being in JavaScript. Do you think I would be able to take it successfully?
- lucasrp 13y ago
  Im a beginner um programming, and did machine learning course right after a introdutory course (CS50 and 6.00x at Edx). I've been able to do the whole course, but only because i have good math skills. My impression is that math skills (calculus and linear algebra) are much more needed than coding skills in this course.
  - krrishd 13y ago
    Im currently taking calculus, but im not sure if I have already dealt with linear algebra before. Is it its own subject, or does Algebra and Algebra II cover the content?

waynerad 13y ago

Machine Learning. I thought it was a really tough class and took more time than they say (they say workload: 5-7 hours/week -- maybe if you are perfect and your code never has bugs that you need to spend time debugging -- the course is based on programming assignments in Octave where you have to demonstrate mastery of machine learning concepts), but I put in a lot of extra time, mastered everything, finished with a 100. Andrew Ng is a top-notch teacher, even though his speaking style is very low-key. https://www.coursera.org/course/ml https://www.coursera.org/course/ml

deleted 13y ago
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tjr 13y ago

Learning Creative Learning: http://learn.media.mit.edu http://learn.media.mit.edu (for as long as they keep the site up anyway) Introduced me to some new ideas about learning, and solidified some ambiguous thoughts I already had. Much fun.

vijucat 13y ago

I finally made time for "Functional Programming in Scala" and it was fun. However, I must add that when I tried to use Scala in the real-world, it was considerably more complicated due to implicits, CanBuildFrom, and other "invisible hands" (not merely synactic sugar, mind you).

deleted 13y ago

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