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."

Comments

Future of education

[Azureflare]

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.

Re:Future of education

[geekoid]

Employment should have never been the incentive for going to college. Learning should have been.

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?

Re:Future of education

[PopeRatzo]

That will happen just after social networking replaces meeting people in bars

That's already happened, sometime early in 2009.

Where you been?

Re:Future of education

[Fned]

If going to bars leaves you 100k in debt and bereft of any employment opportunities, you're either doing it wrong, or doing it very, very right...

Re:Future of education

[larry bagina]

In a bar, wondering why he's not meeting people.

AI Class

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:AI Class

[mrchaotica]

I'm taking all three courses being offered right now: AI, machine learning, and intro to databases. The AI class uses its own unique software platform, while the other two share one (which will presumably be used for most or all of next quarter's classes).

I like the other two much better than the AI class for several reasons: first, because they make those mid-lecture quizzes optional and also allow the lectures to be downloaded instead of streamed. Second, I like how, unlike the AI class, the other two have actual programming exercises. Third, I like how the homework questions for the other two are presented in a normal web form format (whereas the AI class "homeworks" require you to watch a video of the instructor reading the questions) and also allow multiple submissions.

Re:AI Class

[Just Some Guy]

To do so, I have to go re-stream each question video in turn until I figure out which one I got wrong.

No you don't. Click the "Progress" navbar link. Click Homework / Exams. Click the right-pointing arrow on the left edge of the Midterm header to expand a list of questions and how many sub-questions you got correct out of the number possible. Say you missed a part on Question 01. Click the Question 01 link. It will take you directly to the answer page and show your wrong answers in red.

I only got a 91%, but seem to have scored higher on the "using the web interface" section. ;-)

Amazing Stuff

[hellkyng]

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.

A step on the good direction.

[Ardyvee]

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.