Something was missing this fall. I still had a little time on my hands since I no longer do the cooking, etc., so I decided to go to school! There was a newspaper article about MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and edX, a consortium of several schools, including Harvard, MIT, Stanford, and Berkeley, who were trying this out. Why not? I had always enjoyed school; it was free, so no real pressure; and I picked a course I thought I had sufficient background in to be an enjoyable refresher: Biostatistics for Public Health and Epidemiology.
A warning before you read on: I became addicted!
OK, you've been warned. PH207X (I'll use the course number instead of its long name above) was taught over 12 weeks as a series of videos by two professors from Harvard's graduate school of Public Health. They coordinated videos on biostatistics and epidemiology. Each week there was a homework assignment, and we had use of statistics software called Stata.
The prerequisites for PH207X were "merely" a sound knowledge of algebra. Estimated time was 10 hours a week. No problem! I own a vintage math degree containing two full semesters of statistics (like new, hardly ever used).
You can probably guess the rest of the story, but since this is a blog I will continue. Weeks 1 and 2 were a breeze, and I was congratulating myself already on how well I was doing. Beginning with week 3, the tempo with which the material was presented increased, and I realized I would also need to dredge up those study skills I had stored in the basement. Fortunately I had the box clearly labelled: Taking Notes & Reviewing.
Over the course of the 12 weeks I managed to fill an entire 3-ring binder with notes, tutorial examples, and homework problems and solutions. I was astounded by how rigorous the course was, and I guess I'm more competitive than I thought, since I took up the challenge.
What made the course even more interesting was the discussion board, on which I had the opportunity to read and exchange ideas with some of the 37,000 students taking the course. (Yes, 37,000). It was fascinating to read about the ongoing projects that some folks had, especially in India and Africa. What was most remarkable is that from time to time one of the professors would respond to a post. I was impressed.
I took the final two days ago with great trepidation. What if those study skills I had stored were past their freshness date? Turned out that they aged pretty well. I passed, and I am thrilled! I can't wait to find out some course statistics, such as how many of the 37,000 took the final, and how many of
But now I'm in withdrawal for a few weeks until Spring.
For the Spring term I have registered for a course from MIT edX called The Economics of Global Poverty. I have persuaded Bob and my friend Gale in AZ to take a course called Justice, which discusses the important social, philosophical, and political issues of today.
Does that make me a pusher as well as a user?
Here is the link to Spring classes: https://www.edx.org/courses
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