Walking on MOOCs: online learning experience
The topic of online courses (MOOC, Massive Open Online Course) over the past couple of years has gained such popularity that probably only the lazy have not heard about this form of education, and many have already had time to try out. I myself came to the topic of online training last year, when I realized that for current work tasks I urgently need to improve some technical knowledge, sometimes forgotten and partially scattered, and learn something from scratch. Since then, I managed to master the two largest MOOC platforms — Coursera and edX (there are also Udacity in the “big three”, as well as many small educational projects of various formats). There I successfully completed several courses (in particular, R programming from John Hopkins University, Stanford University's Machine Learning , Statistical Learning from Stanford Online) and I do not intend to stop there. In my article, I want to share my thoughts and impressions on the process of distance learning, to talk about the pros and cons, and just to inspire those who have heard and want, but do not yet know how to approach online learning. This is not a review of specific courses and platforms, but personal experiences from classes. It will focus mainly on Coursera and edX, as the main providers of distance learning.
Almost all online courses are presented in the form of video lectures with a set of slides, on which the learning process takes place. Videolections can most often be downloaded for local viewing, as well as presentation slides, and subtitles (if available). For example, the Coursera mobile app allows you to download video lectures directly to your phone or tablet. Russian subtitles, alas, have a rather small number of courses (translation of courses into other languages ​​and the release of subtitles are usually carried out by volunteer enthusiasts), so those who are not very good at listening to technical English can be helped by English subtitles. can be included almost everywhere.
Depending on the course there are two training options:
In addition to single courses, there are so-called specializations: these are several different courses (from about three to eight), united by a common subject and stretched for quite a long time (up to several months; in fact, you get a full-term semester or a whole course like at a university). Typical examples:
The most popular courses can collect tens of thousands of students from all over the world, while attendance at session courses is naturally much higher than courses with free attendance. Therefore, one of the main advantages of the session courses is the presence of a much larger number of participants in the forum of the course and the opportunity not only to talk with them about life, but also to discuss the course itself, test questions and practical tasks. There are also forums on courses on demand, of course, but due to free attendance, the activity there is much lower and noticeably “smeared” in time and topics.
')
It is not necessary to neglect the course forums , even if you are an introvert and a loner by nature! Many authors of the courses immediately, at the very beginning of their training, strongly recommend independently forming on the forum training groups to discuss any issues and tasks during the course. From my own experience I can say that repeatedly thoughtful reading of the forum and participation in discussions really helped me in solving ambiguous questions on the standings.
Panic-panic!
One of the main drawbacks of online courses (or rather, just a feature dictated by the format) is the lack of live communication with the teacher . Of course, the authors of many courses can be found on social networks or email them, but considering the number of participants in many popular courses, you probably shouldn’t expect to have constructive communication with the author alone on the course. Therefore, it is better to rely only on forums and the help of fellow students.
Before enrolling in a course, it is advisable to examine the prerequisites section in its description. Different courses imply that students have different levels of skills: from zero requirements (“only the brain, eyes and a desire to learn” are needed) to sufficiently advanced ones, for example: “Basic C ++ / Java programming skills, understanding database principles, basic statistics , linear algebra, artificial intelligence ". In this case, the "base" of knowledge according to the authors of the course can vary quite widely. In any case, always leave for yourself some kind of "margin of safety" in order to understand in time what kind of "basic" skills you suddenly lack in the next practical lesson.
To sign up for a course that is held on a schedule, it is possible to start dates, and after (though some courses may have an opportunity to close after some time after they start). If you didn’t have time to start the course, it’s okay, they will let you into the class, of course, but be prepared for the fact that you will have to catch up on the material at an accelerated pace.
You should be careful with the figures of the intended academic load in the course description. The stated load can vary on different courses from 2 to 20 hours per week, but in reality this can only be verified in practice. If this is your first online course (and you have finished the last semester at the university 10 years ago or more), then boldly multiply these numbers by 2, or even 3, even for the simplest subject: it will be difficult at first to get used to it, even simple things will take more time until you get used to and feel for your own learning pace.
Many technical courses are devoted to learning a specific programming language, so (especially if you are a beginner), in addition to the basics of the language itself, you will have to deal with the development environment (if you are new or very different from the usual one), and with related tools like Git. But in the entry-level courses for this, as a rule, separate classes are reserved. But some advanced courses give more freedom in choosing the tools for solving practical problems - the result is important first of all.
Course materials after their completion most often remain in the public domain, so if you wish, you can sign up for an already completed course in hindsight and pass it yourself (but of course without a certificate about finishing the course, which is more detailed below).
Almost all courses, except for some free courses with free attendance (on demand), offer graduates certificates of completion. It is so pleasant to boast to colleagues a beautiful testimony with the seal and signatures of the authors of the course, or attach it to the resume. It remains to be seen whether this document has real practical value.
Certificates are of two types (on the example of Coursera, on other platforms the names may differ slightly, but the essence is the same):
Submit your documentation
I will not speak banalities on the topic of what needs to be learned for the sake of knowledge, not for a tick or for the sake of paper - I hope that for the audience of this resource, such thoughts are not necessary to voice :) The ethical question about cheating during the course I will also leave aside. Nevertheless, students of online courses quite often raise a quite fair question on the forums - does such a certificate matter (whether it is paid or not) for a potential employer? And do you need to make it part of the summary?
There is no clear answer to this question. In my opinion, western companies have an attitude towards online courses due to historical reasons that have already been formed more clearly than in Russia, and such a thing as a verified certificate probably has some meaning for them, but for the time being it is not completely clear to us. In Russia, I am sure that an advanced HR or a leader from a progressive company will certainly pay attention to the fact that you have completed a couple of specialized courses and were marked with a certificate of their completion. But of course you will not be hired for certificates and diplomas, but for real achievements and the ability to solve practical problems. But what is likely to really tell the fact of a successful completion of the online course - so it is about your self-organization, ability to learn and achieve your own goals. And if the employer knows about a particular course firsthand, then here you really will have something to talk about. But since you have made your achievements on the online courses in the resume, it is very important to be ready to answer questions on their subjectfor the bazaar .
The company's profile and the degree of its advancement also influences the attitude of HR managers and managers towards online training. Large and conservative companies may not pay attention to this at all, but for example for startups or small creative companies this may indeed turn out to be a “plus in karma”.
As for my personal opinion about paid verified certificates, then, in my opinion, the only meaning in them is the very specializations that I mentioned above. Of course, you can complete all specialization courses for free, but to participate in a course project, most often you must first obtain verified certificates for each course. That is, free of charge to go through the whole specialization together with the course project and get the final diploma about its completion, alas, it is impossible.
In a word, do not try to conquer your potential employer with a verified Coursera course certificate. Betterlearn materiel just learn - for yourself.
What is the study without tests and control! On online courses, the topics covered are assigned practical assignments (assignments), and the understanding of the subject is checked with the help of tests (quiz). For each correct answer points are added, which are summarized at the end of the test. If test tasks have a deadline, then sometimes you can break it, but a penalty will be deducted from the final score (for example, the final test score is reduced by 20%).
Tests usually follow each block of video lectures and are questions with a set of answer choices for selection, in other cases a numerical answer must be entered that is a solution to a simple problem. And here there are two extremes:
Checkboxes instead of radio beats with one correct answer - favorite trick of teachers
Practical tasks are also divided into two main types:
The practical tasks themselves (again, taking programmer courses as an example) come in a completely different level:
Distance learning is certainly good, because ultimately you set yourself a lesson schedule - the main thing is to take tests and assignments in time. But of course, you should never postpone classes until the evening of the last day. Treat online courses roughly as a visit to the gym - the greatest effect will be given by several trainings a week for an hour and a half, and not one lesson a week until exhaustion. No matter how trite it sounds, it helps to prepare an approximate lesson plan for yourself and strictly follow it (for example, to set aside three or four nights a week, which you can take to classes). Of course, classes should not be to the detriment of the main work - it is unlikely that your employer will be happy with the fact that you spend half of your working hours on classes, even on specialized topics. And ideally, of course, if online training is directly related to the direction and themes of your main activity at work, then you better tell your boss about it - he will certainly support you.
schedule of lessons
For the first time learning online, it may suddenly seem to you that the load is not so big, and when you study the entire catalog of courses, you will definitely want to try “this”, “this is this” and “this is another thing”, and preferably all at once. I warn you: it is better not to do this! At the same time you do not need to attend more than two online courses, and then if they are not too difficult. Otherwise, reload your head and you will not have time to complete tasks. The same applies to the schedule lag: from my own experience I can say that it can be very difficult to make up even a couple of weeks of classes that missed.
I would be happy if you share in the comments your impressions of your training in online courses.
Successes in studies!
Listen to the record, see the picture
Almost all online courses are presented in the form of video lectures with a set of slides, on which the learning process takes place. Videolections can most often be downloaded for local viewing, as well as presentation slides, and subtitles (if available). For example, the Coursera mobile app allows you to download video lectures directly to your phone or tablet. Russian subtitles, alas, have a rather small number of courses (translation of courses into other languages ​​and the release of subtitles are usually carried out by volunteer enthusiasts), so those who are not very good at listening to technical English can be helped by English subtitles. can be included almost everywhere.
Study, study and study
Depending on the course there are two training options:
- Session courses . This is the most common practice: the course starts on a certain date and lasts several weeks (usually from 2 to 12 weeks, although sometimes there are longer ones). Sessions of one course can be repeated 2-3 times a year, but their schedule is not known in advance.
- Free entry course (“self-paced” or “on demand”). There is no deadline for such a course, materials are laid out in free access and everyone can engage in them at any pace. Sometimes it happens that the course, previously held several sessions on a schedule, is translated into on demand mode. For example, the Machine Learning course on Coursera, according to information from its author, Andrew Ng , this year was last held in a session format and is now available on demand at any time.
In addition to single courses, there are so-called specializations: these are several different courses (from about three to eight), united by a common subject and stretched for quite a long time (up to several months; in fact, you get a full-term semester or a whole course like at a university). Typical examples:
- Data Science from John Hopkins University : 9 monthly courses + course project
- Cloud Computing from University of Illinois : 4 courses of 4-5 weeks + course project
The most popular courses can collect tens of thousands of students from all over the world, while attendance at session courses is naturally much higher than courses with free attendance. Therefore, one of the main advantages of the session courses is the presence of a much larger number of participants in the forum of the course and the opportunity not only to talk with them about life, but also to discuss the course itself, test questions and practical tasks. There are also forums on courses on demand, of course, but due to free attendance, the activity there is much lower and noticeably “smeared” in time and topics.
')
It is not necessary to neglect the course forums , even if you are an introvert and a loner by nature! Many authors of the courses immediately, at the very beginning of their training, strongly recommend independently forming on the forum training groups to discuss any issues and tasks during the course. From my own experience I can say that repeatedly thoughtful reading of the forum and participation in discussions really helped me in solving ambiguous questions on the standings.
Panic-panic!
Advantages and disadvantages
One of the main drawbacks of online courses (or rather, just a feature dictated by the format) is the lack of live communication with the teacher . Of course, the authors of many courses can be found on social networks or email them, but considering the number of participants in many popular courses, you probably shouldn’t expect to have constructive communication with the author alone on the course. Therefore, it is better to rely only on forums and the help of fellow students.
Before enrolling in a course, it is advisable to examine the prerequisites section in its description. Different courses imply that students have different levels of skills: from zero requirements (“only the brain, eyes and a desire to learn” are needed) to sufficiently advanced ones, for example: “Basic C ++ / Java programming skills, understanding database principles, basic statistics , linear algebra, artificial intelligence ". In this case, the "base" of knowledge according to the authors of the course can vary quite widely. In any case, always leave for yourself some kind of "margin of safety" in order to understand in time what kind of "basic" skills you suddenly lack in the next practical lesson.
To sign up for a course that is held on a schedule, it is possible to start dates, and after (though some courses may have an opportunity to close after some time after they start). If you didn’t have time to start the course, it’s okay, they will let you into the class, of course, but be prepared for the fact that you will have to catch up on the material at an accelerated pace.
You should be careful with the figures of the intended academic load in the course description. The stated load can vary on different courses from 2 to 20 hours per week, but in reality this can only be verified in practice. If this is your first online course (and you have finished the last semester at the university 10 years ago or more), then boldly multiply these numbers by 2, or even 3, even for the simplest subject: it will be difficult at first to get used to it, even simple things will take more time until you get used to and feel for your own learning pace.
Many technical courses are devoted to learning a specific programming language, so (especially if you are a beginner), in addition to the basics of the language itself, you will have to deal with the development environment (if you are new or very different from the usual one), and with related tools like Git. But in the entry-level courses for this, as a rule, separate classes are reserved. But some advanced courses give more freedom in choosing the tools for solving practical problems - the result is important first of all.
Course materials after their completion most often remain in the public domain, so if you wish, you can sign up for an already completed course in hindsight and pass it yourself (but of course without a certificate about finishing the course, which is more detailed below).
What to get out of wide leg (and attach to the resume)
Almost all courses, except for some free courses with free attendance (on demand), offer graduates certificates of completion. It is so pleasant to boast to colleagues a beautiful testimony with the seal and signatures of the authors of the course, or attach it to the resume. It remains to be seen whether this document has real practical value.
Certificates are of two types (on the example of Coursera, on other platforms the names may differ slightly, but the essence is the same):
- Statement of Accomplishment . This is the usual certificate of completion of the free course, issued in the case of passing all the course tasks on time and with the minimum required points (depends on the course: somewhere you need to score at least 50%, somewhere 80%). In essence, it means “listened, passed”. In some courses, a certificate with a distinction can also be issued for overcoming, for example, the 90 percent mark.
- Verified Certificate . This is a somewhat mysterious document, in essence no different from the first type. However, the differences are still there. The verified certificate is issued only when passing the course on a fee basis. At Coursera, this is called the Signature Track and essentially means identification: before the start of the course, you take a photo on a webcam, type a long phrase to memorize your keyboard handwriting by the system, and also present the ID document with a photo to the webcam. Oh yeah, well, pay for the course itself, of course! You submit the document once, but you will have to print the control phrase and smile at the webcam before passing each intermediate test. But the certificate obtained is accompanied by a separate web-link, and it is assumed that your potential employer (or anyone who wishes) can make sure by this link that you have successfully completed this course and passed all the tests.
Submit your documentation
I will not speak banalities on the topic of what needs to be learned for the sake of knowledge, not for a tick or for the sake of paper - I hope that for the audience of this resource, such thoughts are not necessary to voice :) The ethical question about cheating during the course I will also leave aside. Nevertheless, students of online courses quite often raise a quite fair question on the forums - does such a certificate matter (whether it is paid or not) for a potential employer? And do you need to make it part of the summary?
There is no clear answer to this question. In my opinion, western companies have an attitude towards online courses due to historical reasons that have already been formed more clearly than in Russia, and such a thing as a verified certificate probably has some meaning for them, but for the time being it is not completely clear to us. In Russia, I am sure that an advanced HR or a leader from a progressive company will certainly pay attention to the fact that you have completed a couple of specialized courses and were marked with a certificate of their completion. But of course you will not be hired for certificates and diplomas, but for real achievements and the ability to solve practical problems. But what is likely to really tell the fact of a successful completion of the online course - so it is about your self-organization, ability to learn and achieve your own goals. And if the employer knows about a particular course firsthand, then here you really will have something to talk about. But since you have made your achievements on the online courses in the resume, it is very important to be ready to answer questions on their subject
The company's profile and the degree of its advancement also influences the attitude of HR managers and managers towards online training. Large and conservative companies may not pay attention to this at all, but for example for startups or small creative companies this may indeed turn out to be a “plus in karma”.
As for my personal opinion about paid verified certificates, then, in my opinion, the only meaning in them is the very specializations that I mentioned above. Of course, you can complete all specialization courses for free, but to participate in a course project, most often you must first obtain verified certificates for each course. That is, free of charge to go through the whole specialization together with the course project and get the final diploma about its completion, alas, it is impossible.
In a word, do not try to conquer your potential employer with a verified Coursera course certificate. Better
Closed textbooks, got the leaves
What is the study without tests and control! On online courses, the topics covered are assigned practical assignments (assignments), and the understanding of the subject is checked with the help of tests (quiz). For each correct answer points are added, which are summarized at the end of the test. If test tasks have a deadline, then sometimes you can break it, but a penalty will be deducted from the final score (for example, the final test score is reduced by 20%).
Tests usually follow each block of video lectures and are questions with a set of answer choices for selection, in other cases a numerical answer must be entered that is a solution to a simple problem. And here there are two extremes:
- Test with an infinite number of attempts. You can pass it at least 150 times, to get the highest score. To protect against accidental brute force in such tests, a temporary limit is set, for example, each next attempt can be completed at least 10 minutes after the previous one. Ideally, if you made annoying errors in the test, during this period of time you can once again scroll through the slides or listen to the necessary pieces of video lectures for a better understanding of the issues. The ultimate score for the test is considered the highest of all attempts. Such an approach, for example, was in the tests and tasks of the Machine Learning course - the author of the course Andrew Ng recommended repeating the exercises until obtaining the highest score (and in general, in my opinion, this approach is not devoid of meaning):
It would be your mind to take the time to complete the assignment. We strongly encourage you to keep a perfect score.
- Test with one try. Cruel! I entered the wrong answer (it was sealed, I was wrong, I noted not all the options) - that's all, the attempt was not counted, zero points. On the one hand, it is as close as possible to the conditions of the present exam: either immediately answered the question correctly or not. On the other hand, the questions are sometimes ambiguous, and if in real life you can argue with the examiner or try to substantiate your answer, here you will have to defend your point of view except in front of a dumb monitor. In such cases, disputes, dramas and indignation sometimes occur on the course forum ( “It was sealed up, give a second attempt, $ # &% ^ & *!” ), But the rules are rules: it's a shame, but zero points for an incorrect answer here cannot be corrected .
- And at last, intermediate varinat - several attempts of the answer (for example three) from which the highest point as a result gets out.
Checkboxes instead of radio beats with one correct answer - favorite trick of teachers
Practical tasks are also divided into two main types:
- Tasks with the answer . In them, as a rule, you just need to enter the answer as a numerical result of the execution of a program written by you or a piece of code. Everything is simple, but just in case, never neglect the decimal places in the obtained results (although it is often stated in the problem statement that “provide at least two values ​​after the decimal point”).
- Peer graded assignment. This is a completely different type of assignments, which are designed for cross-checking by the course participants themselves. Such tasks are usually set up like this (using the example of courses on programming): you write a short code, create a Markdown document, and upload it all to GitHub. After that, you need to check the similar commits of five other students, give your grade for each part and write a short comment on the work ( “Well done, good job!” Of course, but it’s better to write something more constructive). Your work will also be evaluated by several other students on the same principle. In other courses, instead of code, this can be anything else - a detailed answer to a question, an essay, a short essay ... well, everything that can be qualitatively assessed by fellow students in a course.
The practical tasks themselves (again, taking programmer courses as an example) come in a completely different level:
- For beginners: write three lines of code, commit a numeric answer. Usually, these are tasks from courses entirely entry-level with minimal input requirements.
- Slightly less simple tasks: implement the algorithm according to the formula of lectures. Sometimes makes you think, but in general, too, issues and difficulties does not cause.
- Finally, real practical tasks with real data. Here the imagination of the authors of the course (as well as the possible number of lines of code) is not limited by anything, and it happens that the farther away, the more intricate.
On the job
Distance learning is certainly good, because ultimately you set yourself a lesson schedule - the main thing is to take tests and assignments in time. But of course, you should never postpone classes until the evening of the last day. Treat online courses roughly as a visit to the gym - the greatest effect will be given by several trainings a week for an hour and a half, and not one lesson a week until exhaustion. No matter how trite it sounds, it helps to prepare an approximate lesson plan for yourself and strictly follow it (for example, to set aside three or four nights a week, which you can take to classes). Of course, classes should not be to the detriment of the main work - it is unlikely that your employer will be happy with the fact that you spend half of your working hours on classes, even on specialized topics. And ideally, of course, if online training is directly related to the direction and themes of your main activity at work, then you better tell your boss about it - he will certainly support you.
Drum club, circle on the photo, and I still sing hunting
schedule of lessons
For the first time learning online, it may suddenly seem to you that the load is not so big, and when you study the entire catalog of courses, you will definitely want to try “this”, “this is this” and “this is another thing”, and preferably all at once. I warn you: it is better not to do this! At the same time you do not need to attend more than two online courses, and then if they are not too difficult. Otherwise, reload your head and you will not have time to complete tasks. The same applies to the schedule lag: from my own experience I can say that it can be very difficult to make up even a couple of weeks of classes that missed.
I would be happy if you share in the comments your impressions of your training in online courses.
Successes in studies!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/289510/
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