

Ask HN: What were some good MOOCs you participated in in 2013? - chl


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chl
All in all, Eric Lander's 7.00x (Introduction to Biology) probably was the
best of all the courses I completed in 2013. Lander is a fantastic lecturer --
it wasn't uncommon that his lectures (or shall I say performances) ended in
applause.

Going beyond "just" videos and multiple-choice quizzes, the MITx folks
built/assembled an impressive array of mostly web-based tools (e.g. a 3D
molecule viewer, a molecule editor, a simplified version of genome viewers
used by actual biologists) to support the learning enterprise.

Here's a glowing review that (unlike my scribblings here) starts to do the
7.00x experience justice:
[http://okazakifragments.wordpress.com/2013/05/29/the-best-
mo...](http://okazakifragments.wordpress.com/2013/05/29/the-best-mooc-ever-
just-ended/comment-page-1/)

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jacalata
I really enjoyed Programming Languages by Dan Grossman (U. Washington) on
Coursera. Well organised course, smoothly run.
[https://class.coursera.org/proglang-002](https://class.coursera.org/proglang-002)

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waynerad
Machine Learning. I thought it was a really tough class and took more time
than they say (they say workload: 5-7 hours/week -- maybe if you are perfect
and your code never has bugs that you need to spend time debugging -- the
course is based on programming assignments in Octave where you have to
demonstrate mastery of machine learning concepts), but I put in a lot of extra
time, mastered everything, finished with a 100. Andrew Ng is a top-notch
teacher, even though his speaking style is very low-key.
[https://www.coursera.org/course/ml](https://www.coursera.org/course/ml)

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vijucat
I finally made time for "Functional Programming in Scala" and it was fun.

However, I must add that when I tried to use Scala in the real-world, it was
considerably more complicated due to implicits, CanBuildFrom, and other
"invisible hands" (not merely synactic sugar, mind you).

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tjr
Learning Creative Learning:
[http://learn.media.mit.edu](http://learn.media.mit.edu) (for as long as they
keep the site up anyway)

Introduced me to some new ideas about learning, and solidified some ambiguous
thoughts I already had. Much fun.

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oakenclast
Maps and the Geospatial Revolution on Coursera

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michael_fine
Intro to Machine Learning on Coursera was pretty great, just the right level
of difficulty for a novice high schooler.

~~~
krrishd
I'm a high schooler. My knowledge is mainly in the front-end realm, with the
vast majority of 'programming' I do being in JavaScript. Do you think I would
be able to take it successfully?

~~~
lucasrp
Im a beginner um programming, and did machine learning course right after a
introdutory course (CS50 and 6.00x at Edx).

I've been able to do the whole course, but only because i have good math
skills. My impression is that math skills (calculus and linear algebra) are
much more needed than coding skills in this course.

~~~
krrishd
Im currently taking calculus, but im not sure if I have already dealt with
linear algebra before. Is it its own subject, or does Algebra and Algebra II
cover the content?

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krrishd
Startup Engineering from Stanford on Coursera. Life changer for me.

