Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Welcome to the Brave New World of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses)


So you are not fully equipped to survive the new age of artificially enhanced machines.  You would like a job that let you in on designing and programming these new marvels but you are lacking in some math tools. (me too)

Maybe you can put your new tablet/slate PC to work and enroll in one of the many online courses that are popping up.
- LRK -

View a YouTube introduction from the New York Times. - LRK -

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Welcome to the Brave New World of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses)

Published on Jan 8, 2013
More top colleges are offering free massive open online courses, but companies and universities still need to figure out a way to monetize them.

Related article: http://nyti.ms/UQdyvA
Please visit http://nyti.ms/11c8bLI in order to embed this video
Watch more videos at http://nytimes.com/video
Follow on Twitter: http://twitter.com/nytimesvideo

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As is mentioned in the video, you may not finish but could take you from the basics to advanced whatever. 
(me too - one of several I have started and not finished - too easily distracted) - LRK -

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KHANACADEMY

Learn almost anything for free.

A free world-class education for anyone anywhere.

The Khan Academy is an organization on a mission. We're a not-for-profit with the goal of changing education for the better by providing a free world-class education for anyone anywhere.
All of the site's resources are available to anyone. It doesn't matter if you are a student, teacher, home-schooler, principal, adult returning to the classroom after 20 years, or a friendly alien just trying to get a leg up in earthly biology. The Khan Academy's materials and resources are available to you completely free of charge.
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And maybe a flip side.
- LRK -

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The MOOC movement is not an indicator of educational evolution

MOOCs get the attention, but DIY and peer-to-peer exchange are more fertile grounds for development

Somehow, recently, a lot of people have taken an interest in the broadcast of canned educational materials, and this practice — under a term that proponents and detractors have settled on, massive open online course (MOOC) — is getting a publicity surge. I know that the series of online classes offered by Stanford proved to be extraordinarily popular, leading to the foundation of Udacity and a number of other companies. But I wish people would stop getting so excited over this transitional technology. The attention drowns out two truly significant trends in progressive education: do-it-yourself labs and peer-to-peer exchanges.
In the current opinion torrent, Clay Shirky treats MOOCs in a recent article, and Joseph E. Aoun, president of Northeastern University, writes (in a Boston Globe subscription-only article) that traditional colleges will have to deal with the MOOC challenge. Jon Bruner points out on Radarthat non-elite American institutions could use a good scare (although I know a lot of people whose lives were dramatically improved by attending such colleges). The December issue ofCommunications of the ACM offers Professor Richard A. DeMillo from the Georgia Institute of Technology assessing the possible role of MOOCs in changing education, along with an editorial by editor-in-chief Moshe Y. Vardi culminating with, “If I had my wish, I would wave a wand and make MOOCs disappear.”
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Three Stanford ONLINE courses I have pinned to try and learn more about what I am interested in and failed to complete in 2012.  Maybe in 2013 before the machines take over.  :-)
- LRK -

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Machine Learning

Natural Language Processing

Probabilistic Graphical Models

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Here is on list of various MOOC including 'coursera' which I looked at back in Oct. 2012, so now past
- LRK -

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MOOC and open Course Providers
Visit individual sites to view course lists.
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Let us prepare for the Future Shock and let our grandchildren know how important it will be to learn to read.
- LRK -
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK -

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