Coursera

Always wanted to study at Harvard? Or do you need/want to know more about a certain topic? You’re in luck! Right now, you can follow online courses from about 90 of the best universities in the world FOR FREE!

Some time last year I stumbled upon a blog about Coursera, a for-profit organization that partners with some of the best universities in the world. They offer courses on almost any given subject. Right now it is for free! The downside is that the certificates you (can) get are pretty much for yourself only, no credits are given. The information is the same though, so if you are not that interested in the certificate it is really a very cool thing to do.

After I read the blog, I browsed through the topics they had to offer and chose the ones I thought would be most fun: Writing in Sciences (if I’ll ever get back to tech writing, it might come in handy) (Stanford); Model Thinking (I seem to have a fairly logical mind, and I was curious to see if that was the case) (Michigan); and Greek Mythology (I always wanted to read the Odysseus, but never got around doing it. This seemed the perfect opportunity and lots of other myths got thrown in as well) (Penn).

My teachers from last year

Fortunately I chose well, I really liked all the courses and even learned a trick or two in the writing course. With thousands of class mates; which really is mind-blowing when you think about it! (Writing in Sciences 11,000; Model Thinking 92,000; Greek Mythology 40,000) All these people were sweating over the same assignments I was. Cool, eh!  All courses run discussion platforms and if you have problems with something, you know you’ll never be alone!

At the moment it is really, really easy to cheat on the quizzes and exams, since everything is done in good faith. So, if you are interested in new subjects and want to go in-depth on a topic, Coursera is just your thing. If you are looking to get a prestigious certificate, keep on looking. I know I had a lot of fun with it and maybe you’ll find something for yourself as well.

If you’d like to see the topics that start in April/May, click here. I just signed up for another writing course. See you there?