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Stanford's Free Computer Science Courses
mikejuk writes "Stanford University is offering the online world more of its undergraduate level CS courses. These free courses consist of You Tube videos with computer-marked quizzes and programming assignments. The ball had been started rolling by Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig's free online version of their Stanford AI class, for which they hoped to reach an audience in the order of a hundred thousand, a target which they seem to have achieved. As well as the previously announced Machine learning course you can now sign up to any of: Computer Science 101, Software as a Service, Human-Computer Interaction, Natural Language Processing, Game Theory, Probabilistic Graphical Models, Cryptography and Design and Analysis of Algorithms. Almost a complete computer science course and they are adding more. Introductory videos and details are available from each courses website."
With the power of the internet and technology rapidly replacing traditional classrooms and workplaces, this seems to be the most cost effective and efficient way to educate those who are young. When employment is no longer an incentive for going to college, we have to find ways to provide education or our entire country (And the world) will suffer when we have a nation of troglodytes.
I'm taking the AI class right now. While there are constraints on the complexity of questions they can ask and what they can expect to teach online, it's still very interesting. At the very least it presents an involved beginners guide as a starting point in this field.
I've never taken any other online courses, but having quizes mixed into the lectures is a really good idea. Makes you really think about the material as you are going through it.
This is the way education should be, available to anyone with an interest. MIT has a similar program with content freely available I believe: http://ocw.mit.edu/ . IMHO this is what libraries will eventually evolve into. This type of knowledge sharing is the root of a libraries books are about, and getting that content from the expert source in the field is hard to beat. Definitely cool stuff.
Registration for the current AI course is closed, but I'm sure they'll be running it again. Also you can see the lectures on youtube.
Now I just wish they'd find a way to make it possible to receive credit in those courses. Would be great to substitute one of the lower core CSCI courses with an online version from Stanford.
high edu should not be a piece of paper to get a job and even then lot's of IT jobs need more hands on learning and less class room theory!
I can't find the P.E. or the basket weaving courses anywhere.
I believe this will be helpful for many that are willing to learn but can't go to a university (for a variety of reasons). Teenagers that want to go ahead and learn more and faster than what their high-school teaches them will be able to do so, at a low cost. Those who simply want to expand their knowledge will also be able to do so at a low cost and in a flexible time.
I don't care if I'm wrong. I only care about everyone obtaining something from the discussion.
I submitted some of the homeworks close to the deadline hour and even then the Youtube videos registered at most 3000 views and am guessing the average is 2000 views.
That, or McJobs will start requiring degrees.
I vote based on politicians' actions, unless contrary to my preconceptions. Often wrong, never uncertain. #iamthe99%
IRC!
If I'm totally lost on some problem I open IRC (freenode-server) and usually it takes less than 15 minutes to get an answer and a solution.
In a world without fences and walls, who needs gates and windows?
Of course, it's hard to feel bed for someone who can't get a job based on their BA degree in 'History', or 'art lit'. Seriously, their great programs, but how many time have you seen 'History' major wanted listed on craigslist?
All degree holders are employable, just not necessarily in their fields of study. I once sat in on a presentation named something like careers for history majors. Basically the speaker said that many jobs require a 4-year degree, any degree will do. Typically these are entry level managements jobs.
Keep in mind that while a degree demonstrates some level of knowledge in a particular field, it also demonstrates the ability to complete a long, boring and bureaucratic process. There is value in the later.
I am a physics student, so none of this is directly my field. But we have a lot of computer-related courses here, so I decided to improve upon them and started watching Machine Learning. The videos were interesting, although their level was more suitable for high school, but I thought that's just for the intros.
Then the first assignment came. I wrote a blog post comparing this course with another one at my university (of Ljubljana, Slovenia). Basically, the assignment from Stanford was 15 pages of instructions to write four lines of code. Yes, you read that right: all the framework code was there, all I had to do was write a linear function in Octave. On the other hand, Slovene physics student are expected to produce all their own code, and around 10 pages of reports with graphs and formulas, every week. And we only get one page of instructions, specifying only the problem, and leaving the tool and the solutions to the students. Both assignments are linked to in the blog post.
Seeing the course takes too much time to read through and doesn't teach me anything, I quit after the second assignment. Maybe it got harder since then, but I didn't really have time to check.
PlusFive Slashdot reader for Android. Can post comments.
I quit after the first week.
http://www.reddit.com/r/aiclass/comments/lm6c8/suggestion_for_the_teachers_teach_the_method_then/
The teachers may be brilliant in their field, but they suck as educators.
slashdot troll = you make a compelling argument I do not like the implications of.
I can't find the link right now but when room and board is considered I believe the average cost of a 4-year college or university is $13 per year.
13 bucks? Dang...I overpaid.
They left out the coffee breaks.
I find it a little ironic that your error-ridden post advocates less classroom theory. "lot's" doesn't mean anything and should be "lots"; it's "hands-on", not "hands on"; it's "classroom", not "class room"; and your statement should really be two sentences, rather than one with two halves smashed together with an "and" thrown between.
(To be clear, I'm not judging the content of your post--I don't have enough experience with IT education to pass judgement--I'm just commenting on its irony.)
I liked the guy commenting on the usefulness of PhDs the other day using "then" instead of "than". Actually, I hated that, but I liked the irony.
which is totally what she said
That does sound good.
But I'm not talking about the quality of the lecturer, though Harvard has that, too. I'm talking about the different facts they teach the ruling class as they come of age.
I know Harvard grads, and I know they learned a different history that is taught elsewhere. Even outside the Skull and Bones colloquia (and I know S&B members, too, and I'm not kidding).
--
make install -not war
I find it a little ironic that your smug-ridden post entirely fail to understand what the post you replied to were saying.
First off, I would point out that "lot's" does indeed mean something, in this case it's of course a shorthand for "parking lot's" - which clearly shows that the author meant that today's education lacked enough knowledge and experience to fill several parking lot's.
Further on, the gentleman was unambigiously also requesting a more educational focus on Hands-on computing, which is, regrettably, sorely lacking in today's cold society.
And last, but surely not least, with "class room theory" he was directly referring to the fact that today's students learn these newfangled "class based" langages, like for example Java and C#. It's quite clear he requests some real languages to be taught instead, like Assembly, C, Fortran and Perl.
So there you have it, old chap. Quite an embaressing failure on your part there, I'd say. You are indeed lucky to have such wonderful people like me to highlight and educate you in your errors.
It's The Golden Rule: "He who has the gold makes the rules."
From a purely grammatical point, "lots" would be the plural of "lot", so the second half of that statement is kind of amusing.
The word "lot's" would have to be possessive ("that lot's grade runs downhill and to the left") or contractive ("that lot's for sale") .
Plurals aren't done with " 's ".
Sorry, but "parking lot's" as you've described it isn't valid usage.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.