Incredible Free Educational Opportunities

Last year I stumbled upon the free Introduction to Databases online class offered by Stanford University.  It was one of a couple free classes they were offering for the first time.  In my opinion, the class was a HUGE success.  It was a 9 week course that covered about 15 topics that had hours of video lectures and interactive assignments for each topic.  There were a few quizzes and two tests.  It was the real deal!

I’m very proficient in my overall database knowledge, so it was great to review some basics, but they also delved into complex topics that certainly taught me quite a bit!  There was an incredibly well-designed FAQ section to the website where the students could help each other with problem topics.  Oh yeah, did I mention there were ninety thousand (90,000!) students who enrolled?!  25,000 submitted assignments and 6,500 (including me!) got a Statement of Accomplishment for completing the whole course.  I can’t express enough about how first class this course was through and through.  Plus, the professor, Jennifer Widom, has added a few videos since the course ended so students can learn even more!

The coolest part is, Stanford is back at it again!  I signed up for these two classes, but unfortunately I don’t think I’m going to have time to take either.  But, if you have any interest in them, you should definitely sign up!

Game Theory Online – starts March 19th

Probabilistic Graphical Models – starts March 19th

Here’s more information on the whole program as well as a list of other classes: Coursera

I’d love to hear if anyone ends up taking one of these courses!