Friday, March 22, 2013

I've Been Busy

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I have always loved learning something new.  I try to read, listen to, watch for anything everyday that will teach me something that I didn't know before.  Taking classes or courses are fun for me.  Considering them almost a hobby but that hobby can become very expensive after a while!
 
Then a friend told me about this site.  It is called Coursera.  They have a continual selection of university or college classes that ANYONE can take!!!  That is just up my alley.  The BEST part is that they are FREE!  All FREE!!

62 Universities Have Partnered With Coursera

 
Berklee College of Music                                                    Brown University
California Institute of Technology                                      California Institute of the Arts
Case Western Reserve University                                       Columbia University
Curtis Institute of Music                                                      Duke University
École Polytechnique                                                            École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Emory University                                                                Georgia Institute of Technology
Hebrew University of Jerusalem                                         IE Business School
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai                          Johns Hopkins University
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München                       National Taiwan University
National University of Singapore                                       Northwestern University
Ohio State University                                                         Pennsylvania State University
Princeton University                                                           Rice University
Rutgers University                                                              Sapienza University of Rome
Stanford University                                                             Technical University of Denmark (DTU)
Tecnológico de Monterrey                                                 The Chinese University of Hong Kong
The University of Edinburgh                                      
Universiteit Leiden                                                              University of California, Irvine
University of California, San Diego                                    University of California, San Francisco
University of California, Santa Cruz                                   University of Colorado Boulder
University of Copenhagen                                                   University of Florida
University of Geneva                                                          University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Maryland, College Park                                 University of Melbourne
University of Michigan                                                        University of Minnesota
University of Pennsylvania                                                  University of Pittsburgh
University of Rochester                                                       University of Toronto
University of Virginia                                                          University of Washington
University of Wisconsin–Madison                                       Vanderbilt University
 
As a student, you do not have to live in the United States.  You can live anywhere in the world.  The only requirements are an internet connection, your time and your desire to learn.  These free classes do not count towards a degree and you will not earn 'credits' but you do receive a 'Statement of Accomplishment' certificate after you successfully complete a course. 
 
 
Once I browsed through the available classes, I chose a few that interested me but also did not overlap.  Working and running a household take up quite a bit of my time, not to mention my love for crafting.  So far I have chosen four classes that run consecutively until the middle of July.  Each class is unique in terms of length, workload, professors and schools. 
 
I am currently taking the class "Aboriginal Worldviews and Education" through the University of Toronto.  Amazingly there are 21, 392 people taking this class.  Yes, 21,392!!!!  The discussion forums take up a lot of my time as I find reading everyone's posts from all over the world to be extremely interesting.  The class has been such a positive learning experience and I am enjoying it immensely.  This class ends on Monday and my next class starts a week later.  I can't wait!
 
If you love learning new things, take a peek at the website.  You might be surprised at what classes they offer.  I am having a BLAST!  If you do sign up for a class, let me know.  I would love to hear what you are taking.   Enjoy and remember to give your loved ones a hug! 
 

15 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing this wonderful news!!! This is what I love aswell. My goal is to learn a new skill every year, but since I began quilting, most of those skills are quilt-related. These sites give me a chance to learn new and different things. Hopefully my english is sufficient, but that's also a good tool to improve my english....
    If I had the money and energy I would love to go back to school too. My Hubby thinks there is something seriously wrong with me, wanting to attent school voluntary!! ;-)

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    1. These classes are great Bianca as you are not graded on your knowledge of English. I love attending classes!

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  2. Wow! Thanks for the info.
    I will be checking into this.
    One is never too old to learn!

    M :)

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  3. I had heard of Coursera, but hadn't explored it. I'm going to have to look into it. Brigham Young University also offers some free courses, though not through Coursera: http://is.byu.edu/site/courses/free.cfm

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  4. Thanks for this great tip, Debbie! I signed also to some courses right away:"Pay Attention!!" ADHD Through the Lifespan! , Introduction to Art: Concepts & Techniques, and Søren Kierkegaard - Subjectivity, Irony and the Crisis of Modernity! I'll put a link on my blog post to your post here - it's a wonderful way of getting deep with a subject, from you home computer :)

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    Replies
    1. Glad you signed up Nina. Let me know how you like them! Thanks too for the shout out!

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  5. Oh, wow, this is fantastic! I did not know of the ability to take classes online for free. If I took any, it would be just for the knowledge not for a degree or credits. I am definitely going to peruse this site this weekend! Thanks so much!

    ~Ann

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    Replies
    1. Your welcome, I hope you find something you would like to take!

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  6. I am so glad you made an entry to explain this. That is so interesting! I am definelty going to check into this! Thanks!!

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  7. Thank you for sharing this. I have already found a few courses i am interested in doing.

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  8. This is really cool! I was interested in taking some business courses at our local tech institute, but just don't have the time & money right now, and it was the kind of thing where I really didn't need the formal piece of paper, just the knowledge, so this might be a great way for me to go! I'm pinning it for sure!

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  9. Always love to learn - this looks like a marvelous resource. I do appreciate you sharing with Home and Garden Thursday,
    Kathy

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Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment! I love reading all of them. Have a wonderful day.

Debbie

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