Here is a link to the MOOC that I have been observing for the past six weeks.
Introduction to Databases - Stanford University Online
http://online.stanford.edu/db-win13
The MOOC (Massive Online Open Course) that I choose to sign up for was titled Introduction to Databases. This is a free course that is being offered and taught through Stanford University Online. I chose this particular topic because as an undergraduate student I studied engineering, which involved a fairly large amount of computer programming. Since it has been over 10 years since I have had any computer programming experience, I was very excited to see how much I had remembered and how effective an online MOOC class could be.
I was also very excited because I read a quick biography of the instructor of this course Professor Jennifer Wisdom. She is an accomplished professor and researcher at the university level, and I will be receiving the same instruction and training that Stanford students also get. So going into this course my expectations on the quality of teaching, rigor of the curriculum and relevance of the learning were extremely high.
The format of this course if relatively user friendly and intuitive. It consists of seventeen major topics that the professor will be teaching throughout the semester. Each topic consist of one or more videos containing powerpoint slides. These slides are easy to follow and read. The audio and video content of this course is excellent. At the end of nearly every section there are review questions and examples problems which have proven to be very helpful in checking to make sure that have a firm understanding of each particular topic.
As for the grading system, in addition to periodic quizzes at the end of most of the sections, there is also a midterm and a final exam. Students in this class do not receive "GRADES", however if a student achieves 50% or more of the possible points in the class, then a certificate of completion is award. This course also does not offer any college credits.
The instructor was able to offer this as a MASSIVE class due to the fact that all of the lessons were conducted via online pre-recorded video feed. Quizzes, Midterms and Final Exams were either multiple choice questions or questions that could be automatically graded and checked by computer program. Also rather than asking questions to a professor directly students could ask questions or post answers to questions via an online class forum. This proved to be the quickest and most effective was to get answers to questions.
Overall I thought this course was a great experience. The one major downside being that access to the professor was very limited. This course would not be recommended for a student who is not self motivated and cannot keep pace on their own. While MOOC's are a wonderful way for self motivated and driven students to enrich their learning and their lives for free, this method of learning is definitely not recommended for students who need constant supervision, accountability and live contact, and encouragement from and instructor.
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