Has/is anyone participating is this learning experience? Sounds like a great idea to me.

https://www.edx.org/sites/default/files ... banner.jpg

Looks interesting. Any idea of the costs? What are you interested in learning?

It's free unless you want a certificate

Not the first one to do something like that, e learning is developing rapidly with university. First website who do aggregation this way though to my knowledge before you had more or less to go on the website of each university.
You just have to realize that e learning ask you the same amount of time than the university, meaning this is not really something you can do on the side. This is at least 100 hours work for one course.
Also taking a course is good but usually this is to applied it to your work meaning that you need the certificate (other wise can not mention it on the CV or to your customer). Considering the amount of work you have to invest on one course make no real sense not to pay IMO unless there is special circumstance.

just to get the brain working and thinking and something to do other than knock back the beer at the weekend, would be my reasons. Not looking to improve my CV as I've never written one and shall be retiring in two years anyway.

horace wrote:just to get the brain working and thinking and something to do other than knock back the beer at the weekend, would be my reasons. Not looking to improve my CV as I've never written one and shall be retiring in two years anyway.

In this case this is very (very) probably NOT what you are looking for.
This kind of training require continuous work this is not something that you can do on the side, at least not if you are serious about it. This is more 3 or 4 hours of works everyday kind of requirement. Working on it only the week end will not work.

That why they are giving all the material for free. If you are serious enough to do one course the likelihood you pay for the certification is almost 100% make strictly no sense to spend so many hour on it and have nothing to show at the end.

If you do not believe me (what I suppose is the case), try one for fun and you will see.

Not what I'm looking to study but just the first one on the list, and it says 7-12 hours a week, which means 2 hours a day maximum.I'm just saying, not trying to argue with you ryoon and other courses which are in the archives can be studied at your leisure.




MITx: 7.00x: Introduction to Biology - The Secret of Life
Watch the Course Intro VideoEric S. Lander: Play video
School: MITx
Course Code: 7.00x
Classes Start: 17 Jun 2014
Course Length: 12 weeks
Estimated effort: 7 - 14 hours/week
Prerequisites:

High school level biology and chemistry recommended. A desire to learn is required.


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Student Reviews 24 Reviews


by CourseTalk student
Dr. Lander's course is a rare gem. He is an outstanding speaker and his enthusiasm held my attention throughout all of the lectures. The course is v ... more

by CourseTalk student
This was my first formal exposure to biology or genetics, although I had read widely in these areas out of personal interest. The course was extreme ... more

by edX student
I participated in the first pass of this course and it was the best pedagogical experience I've ever had. ... more
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Introduction to Biology - The Secret of Life
Introduction to Biology - The Secret of Life

Explore the secret of life through the basics of biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, recombinant DNA, genomics and rational medicine.

About this Course

7.00x is an introductory level biology course hosted by professor Eric

I hope that one day they'll have access to all upper education online and open source. Then get some of the smartest people in their fields to teach a course, record it, and be able to use it over and over again. Imagine learning finance from Warren Buffet? Just let him impart what he knows to be the most germane parts and views of economics and money to people for free. I'll bet this is how the aliens do it.

You can take courses at MIT for free:

http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm

imho, the fact that education at all levels is not free is an indication that humanity has its priorities wrong, and there is no hope.