Slashdot Mirror
More Stanford Computing Courses Go Free
mikejuk writes "Following on the recent Slashdot item on the availability of a free Stanford AI course there is news that two other Stanford Computer Science courses are also joining in this 'bold experiment in distributed education' in which students not only have access to lecture videos and other course materials but will actively participate by submitting assignments and getting regular feedback on their progress. The subjects are Machine Learning with Andrew Ng and Database with Jennifer Widom. This open approach looks as if it might be a success with well over 100,000 prospective students signing up to the AI course alone."
I bet the textbook authors are happy.
-- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
Online education is ok, but there's no substitute for being able to ask questions in realtime and address issues with an actual teacher.
If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can't be taken on its own merits
If I where you I would keep running from those guys in white coates with butterfly nets
That pesky penguin is still in my computer, I refuse to let the poor little thing out.
95 000 of the participants are AI.
Stanford shouldn't care if all of its classes are free: universities sell degrees not education.
wonder how many AI bots have signed up?
Does that mean each of the 100 000 learn one little bit and colectivly they are clever and know AI.
That pesky penguin is still in my computer, I refuse to let the poor little thing out.
If I were you, I'd learn proper English.
Hey I'm in England I dont need to learn proper English. ;)
That pesky penguin is still in my computer, I refuse to let the poor little thing out.
Currently just under 30,000 signed up. Let's see what the Slashdot effect does.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
That is, how many of those tens of thousands who have signed up have what it takes to complete the courses? Do they have the necessary background, determination and aptitude to do it? I think some may have bitten off more than they can chew. I wouldn't be surprised if more than 50% drop out eventually.
All those kids with the One Laptop Per Child computers will be up there learning CS and programming. Millions of programmers and computer scientists will be created. Now all those Third World countries wanting to modernize and enter the WTO so they can increase their standard of living, will have plenty of tech people to dump into the market. Supply and Demand being what is, you know what will happen.
But it gets worse. As those countries compete in trying to be the next India, tech labor will go to zero. Can it go further down? Yep. Those same countries will start paying large multinational corporations to use their tech people. The goal? The policy makers will hope and pray that if they get enough high tech multinationals in their country, they will hit a tipping point and others will set up shop in their countries and they too will have a high-tech boom.
What they fail to understand, the multinationals will suck them dry in order to enrich their CEOs. Some of the well connected people in those countries will get rich but the rest of the people will get screwed and so will we - yes, we have a ways to go in our decline. Sure, some of us will get a few crumbs as our hundred shares or so of their stock goes up a few bucks but tell me, the increase in your pathetic little 401K compensates you for your loss of job? I had to cash mine in to keep a roof over my head and eat.
American Dream my ass! American nightmare!
One of the best things about online teaching materials is that you can learn on your own schedule and pace. There's additional value in getting feedback and that certainly requires a common schedule, but why don't they publish the material without requiring "virtual enrollment" for people who cannot or do not want to commit to the given timetable and participation requirements?
Go to ml-class.org to sign up for the machine learning class, and db-class.org for the databases class!
Online education is ok, but there's no substitute for being able to ask questions in realtime and address issues with an actual teacher.
This is a variation on what is happening in universities across the world. Many professors are recording their lectures. Rather than give the standard lecture during class time they make the recordings available to students. Students are told to watch the lectures on their own time and then class time is used for discussions, Q&A, etc. Personally I thought classes organized like this have been a good idea. Using class time for a professor to perform the same old lecture is a poor use of time. Face-to-face time should be for interaction, not one way communication.
Listening to a rote lecture is not much of an education. A lot of learning occurs during discussions and Q&A. Rote lectures can be watched online at the student's convenience. Universities still have an important role, they actually seem to be on a course to make themselves more valuable. Move the rote lectures online and use that valuable face-to-face time for interaction. Students learn more *and* professors are happier. They don't like giving the same lecture over and over, they much prefer interacting with students -- well the good ones at least.
there's no substitute for being able to ask questions in realtime
That would be awesome but my whole time in college I saw people do that very rarely. Usually teachers have to struggle to get any kind of response out of students.
Some students are just shy and don't like to ask in front of others, others need to absorb the information a little before questions arise.
I think rather than saying "there is no substitute" the model that an online forum can act as a substitute is a really good one. Not only the teachers can answer questions then, but also fellow students - and typing up a thoughtful answer can itself really help you learn more as well.
In a dream world, instead of whatever google system they are planning on using they would instead use a StackOverflow based system where fellow students could up vote the most useful or interesting questions, the professors would answer and as the course progressed you could learn which fellow students to trust for good answers. I don't know that the professors would have to do a ton of answering that way.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I'll hazard a guess the assessment for this course is fully automated with little to zero interaction between the lecturer and individual students. If the lecturer is dilligent, common errors submitted will be reviewed after each assignment and explained to students. My better lecturers at uni did this and it enhanced the learning process. Personal contact is overrated if it has no structure or focus. Give me a good learning experience and I dont care which format it comes in, stone tablets or a kinect coupled to an AI robot.
All those kids with the One Laptop Per Child computers will be up there learning CS and programming. Millions of programmers and computer scientists will be created.
If only that were so!
But it turns out not that many people actually WANT to program. Even if you teach them for free. Unthinkable for those of us that love it, yes, but that's how it is.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Learning and education. Highly contentious topics infused with politics and the corrupting influence of money sloshing around the system (e.g., textbooks, student loans, tuition fees).
Humanity has passed knowledge on for millennia and what's required is a willing student and a knowledgeable, savvy, patient, rigorous teacher. What our American and British institutions of higher education really are trying to achieve is the ability to instruct the maximum quantity of people at the lowest possible cost with a reasonable degree of effectiveness as measured by testing scores/graduation rates.
I think the open publishing of these courses and course materials is a wonderful thing that could possibly enhance mass literacy and allow curious people access to the finest knowledge pool in the world. It's what a global network should be about: to freely connect people thirsty for knowledge with all the information humanity has accumulated.
After working on technology in higher education for 11 years, I sometimes think all we're doing is tinkering around the edges and using technology as a distraction from addressing the real challenges in educating humanity.
But it turns out not that many people actually WANT to program. Even if you teach them for free. Unthinkable for those of us that love it, yes, but that's how it is.
Working while doing something you love and making a living at it is very rare; maybe it's even a luxury.
How many times during this shitty economy we see reports of the unemployed college graduates and the snide remarks about "that's what you get for majoring in Russian Literature!" (BTW, this is the worst job market in history for new nursing grads - even with the "shortage") Well, maybe that's were their passion is. Isn't that what we're taught: do what you love and the money follows?
Only if you are lucky enough to love and well paying profession.
And if you do want to follow your passions, what's wrong with doing something that's lucrative as a vocation to finance your avocation?
Now, you're going to tell some ultra poor person in some Third World country that he only needs to program if he loves it?! Please. They'll grit their teeth and pump out that code and do and probably well, too. It's amazing what you can put up with when your back is against the wall.
A child only does things well if he likes it. An adult does things well because they're a professional. That's something corporate America doesn't get - at least the people here on Slashdot give me that impression.
Oh, and by the way, the idea of students learning the "dry material" outside of class and then coming to class for interaction is not at all new.
In the past, it was called "doing the reading."
I disagree, the lectures and readings are two different things. Very different for the good professors, not so much for the not-so-good. Textbooks do not always line up very well with what a professor may believe needs emphasis. In classes where we had recorded lectures we actually spent more time on the class. These recorded lectures were "additional" content, they did not replace normal readings nor classroom time.
Anyone point in the way of some good 'Nix courses an intermediate level? I'd like a classroom / lecture type environment with assignments over books.
2. What textbook should I buy? There is no need to buy anything. We will provide detailed lecture notes of all the technical content, which will be yours to keep and use as a reference after the end of class. From the Machine Learning info page.
textbooks are useless...use textbooks as a reference.
So which is it?
If Higher Education is as worthy as it's advocates proclaim, we should experience a large and sudden influx of highly competent workers full of "all the information that humanity has accumulated". Don't bet on it. The main reason colleges and universities don't put their course material on line is that it is completely worthless. They would much rather have you pay $500,000 to find that out than to simply give the secret away.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
or dental hygiene.
Don't sign up casually. I've done the machine learning class on line. There is a lot of homework. Expect to spend at least 8 hours a week on the class. Also, the videos consist of Andrew Ng writing math on a chalkboard. An actual chalkboard. In a weird notation where indices are superscripts, rather than subscripts.
A great initiative it is indeed,
but what about all of us that do not have consistent time to spend on a course even though we would love to follow it. even if that means not receiving the note from the teacher to say you passed this course in such and so way... still being allowed to take the exams for your own interest, I know for a fact that I don't have 8 hours a week for homework, but could sqeez out 3 maybe 4 if I push it (and of course there will be the occasional week-end 8 hour marathon run), these courses could as a next step be provided as open lectures without time limitation?
This open approach looks as if it might be a success with well over 100,000 prospective students signing up to the AI course alone.
Only someone who has never, ever, ever taught a class - much less an online class - would consider the enrollment of 100k students a "success". Personally, I call it an unmitigated catastrophe...
(My awed congrats to any instructor/institution that survives such an onslaught, of course...)
This is an encrypted message. What else could be the point of such a minable post ?
Please please change your layout, everytime I visit your site my eyes explode. 200px for a main content container just don't cut it...
-- no sig today
As technology and human social evolution alter the trajectory of human society, new, unpredictable and interesting results will disrupt the obvious path of our development. Research suggests that an end to poverty and global access to modern education would in fact preclude the many problems facing the world today. The end of poverty and the access to modern education would impact population growth, the availability of health care and the prevention of pandemics and ending the likelihood of war, tribal conflict and outbreaks of violence based purely on social inequality.
Education is the single most important means by which people everywhere may break free of the bonds of poverty. In so doing, drastically altering what is possible for the entire human race. Democratizing the third world and bringing them truly into the 21rst century as full partners in designing a global future. Making comprehensive education available freely to all people is tantamount to ending slavery on a global scale. The tools of knowledge are quickly becoming available to people everywhere, the information itself will make the realization of an enlightened humanity, a dream within our grasp.
Neil Stephenson's "Young Lady's Illustrated Primer Study Guide" may soon be coming to a pad computer near you, wherever you may live. We surely live in the most interesting time in human history... dancing on a razors edge between disaster and the complete liberation of the human spirit. I for one am betting on a future of blazing brilliance and blinding light!
How does a teacher teach 100,000+ students in one class? At what point does the educator stop talking at the student, and listen to the students understanding?
I'd be somewhat pissed if I were a Standford Student in this class. Not only does this take away from time you could be having with the professor, but others are getting the same sort of experience for free.
I love Stanford to death :)
This is great news. really! But are there any courses on advanced mathematics too? Like on 'Category Theory' or 'non classical logics, e.g. Kripke semantics'. Any pointers?
A passing grade in the AI class is given to students who correctly deduce whether they are being graded by a human or an AI.
Tenure is given on a similar basis: whether the students are submitting original work or plagiarizing off the internet.
Expect the first tenured AI teachers to be announced shortly...
Studies show a person learns more manipulating paper and writing with a pen. It has to do with the 3D movement so once 3D immersion environments can be created on computer then maybe it will be just as good or better than physical room learning with a teacher who is skilled and creative.