Note: This post is was originally written for NM3204, an E-Learning course I took while studying abroad at NUS. I adapted it slightly for Medium. Since originally writing this post I’ve also interned at Udacity as a Software Engineer, but my thinking on online courses was shaped before my internship (and, of course, these viewpoints are my own).
After hearing that I had completed 7 online courses, a professor in one of my traditional, in-person courses commented:
Wow — you are one of few people I know to have completed so many MOOC courses — would love to hear more about how you kept to each courses’ schedule/requirements…
In this post, I’d like to outline the two reasons I was able to successfully complete so many MOOCs (Massively Open Online Courses).
- The Material — MOOCs are at the cutting-edge of current educational technology. Thus, many of the courses on Coursera/Udacity/EdX are teaching the newest material, especially when it comes to Computer Science. For instance, close to all of Udacity’s programming courses are taught using Python, a much more modern and beginner-friendly language than Java which is used in many traditional university settings. Additionally, both Coursera and Udacity have introduced Data Science specializations. Data Science is a new and evolving field…
