
Fundamentals of Neuroscience from Harvard EdX - omarelamri
http://www.mcb80x.org/#prettyPhoto
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osoba
I took this course (part 1 of 3) last year and passed it with about 90%. It
left me with a question in the back of my mind about whether this is a very
watered down version of the actual Harvard course (I hope it isn't) or if
they're just that good at teaching it. Because there is never a stumbling in
understanding something, the course just flows naturally from one lecture to
another and you get immersed into it all the way through. If I recall
correctly I saw all the lectures during 1 or 2 evenings and did the final exam
a week or so later and surprisingly the material was retained in my head.

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munin
speaking from some experience in putting together and running a mooc class (as
well as non-mooc classes), they are very watered down versions of their
original courses. after a lot of soul-searching, I think that the world is
better for having these classes, but I can't imagine how they could replace or
supplant the previous model. from my perspective, the things that add the most
value to a college class, in educational value, inherently do not scale.

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osoba
The one big positive side to MOOCs is that they offer breadth (even if it's
somewhat watered down). My own real life academic curriculum is 90% pure math,
with programming and theoretical physics covering the other 10%, and having a
wide range of interesting and diverse MOOCs lets you see what else is out
there :)

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munin
true! because the lectures are delivered asynchronously you can survey a broad
amount of material. again, I definitely think that the world is a better place
for having available courseware, but you shouldn't let the brand name of the
professors institution (harvard, MIT, stanford, etc) fool you - it is still
watered down. it has to be.

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plg
I wish they wouldn't say that it's free. It's not free if you have to hand
over a bunch of your information in order to see the content.

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thewarrior
Is it worth paying money to get certified on an online course ? Do employers
consider it?

I was thinking of paying for the Data Science course.

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jghn
I can't imagine a situation where taking a MMOC would positively impact an
employer's thoughts about someone, at least not in a meaningful way (I'm sure
it shows some general level of motivation).

IMO for these things it's better to view them purely as self enrichment

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dkarapetyan
Are these people trying to sell me something? Weird aesthetic for an online
course outline.

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vdaniuk
Yes, these people are trying to sell you their version of knowledge about
neuroscience (nothing negative about that). There are too many online courses
now and course creators have to compete for student's time and attention. And
this is an absolutely wonderful development.

