MOOC Overload

So first I decided to do this.  Then I signed up for this.  And since I wanted to learn some Python, I figured the best way to do so was to check out what MIT had to offer so I also decided to do Introduction to Computer Science and Programming.  I also threw in an Intro to Stats course from Berkley on Edx just to fill a few knowledge gaps.  Finished Intro to Databases, and it piqued my interest in NoSQL databases.  Since my company is just starting to use MongoDB, I signed up for 10gen’s Mongo DB for Python Developers.

All in all, I’m pretty satisfied with the courses I’ve taken.  Intro to Databases from Stanford covered some things I was pretty familiar with (SQL, XML), but there were a number of things that were completely new to me (OLAP, Relational Algebra, Functional Dependencies).  Even for the topics I knew pretty well, I managed to learn something new that’s helped in my current job.  I had to work much harder than I expected to earn the “Statement of Accomplishment” (with distinction!).

Intro to Finance from Coursera is a bit more frustrating.  The course is still going on and I’m pretty sure to complete it.  But as others have noted about this course, there’s a pretty big disconnect between the lecture videos and the problems in the assignments.  The professor is amiable and the lectures are easy to follow, but the examples he works in the videos are pretty basic.  The assignments throw in many more wrinkles that are not really covered.  Also, since you can only submit once, you can’t check your answers.  So the discussion forums are filled with frustrated students trying to piece together the solutions without directly violating the honor code.  I really bombed one assignment by leaving it to the last minute, but I’ve learned my lesson and am trying to do them as we go.

The best one so far has to be MIT’s 600x from EdX.  The lectures are interesting, the problem sets are challenging without being impossible.  The first half of the course is an intro to Python syntax and the second is covering some basic computer science principles.  The difficulty ramps up pretty significantly once Object Oriented Programming is introduced, but it’s been no problem and it’s been a pretty good way for me to get some hands on with Python.

The time commitment has been pretty significant.  I don’t recommend doing more than one or two at a time, yet I’ve already signed up for a Linear Algebra course from Coursera that will start after 600x ends.  There’s also a guitar class from Berklee that I figured would be a good excuse to start playing again.  Oh and Stat 2.2.x starts next week.  So goodbye free time.