XCS221: What I Wish I Knew before I Started
Online courses offer a wealth of resources to help you succeed, but it can be overwhelming to navigate all of them. In this article, we’ll discuss three key resources that will help you get the most out of your online course: course facilitators, cheat sheets, and UC Berkeley lectures.
Course Facilitators: Your Secret Weapon
Your course facilitator (CF’s) is an invaluable resource as they can help you debug your code, answer your questions, and provide guidance on your assignments. I think that the CF’s are one of the major selling points of the courses as they can help you learn the material and provide feedback on your work.
Don’t be afraid to reach out to your course facilitator if you’re having trouble or want to learn more. They can also provide hints on what you still need to answer or what gaps you may have in your knowledge, and point you in the direction of the lecture notes or videos to help fill in those gaps.
Cheat Sheets: Your Shortcut to Success
Luckily for students of the course, two twin brothers who have taken this course previously have put together a series of excellent cheat sheets that provide a summary of not only course material, but a fantastic review of some necessary math concepts, as well.
These sheets are a condensed format of the course material that can be an incredibly helpful resource as an overview for learning the massive and diverse amount of information in the course. Unfortunately, and very sadly for me, I didn’t find out about cheat sheets until almost halfway through the course. As soon as they were shared by a friend also in the course, I went to the closest print shop to have them printed in color right away.
The cheat sheets will save you time by condensing the material, helping you focus on what to learn and provide a quick reference for key concepts.
UC Berkeley Lectures: Possibly a Better Way to Learn the Material
These UC Berkeley lectures closely follow the course content and explain it in a way that is far more intuitive and easier to understand than the pre-recorded lectures in the course. If I could do the course over again, I would have listened to the UC Berkeley lectures on my first pass learning the material, and then I would double back to the Stanford lectures to fill in any Stanford-specific material that might show up on the assignments.
In conclusion, making the most of your online course resources is key to your success. Don’t be afraid to reach out to your course facilitator, use cheat sheets for quick reference, and listen to the UC Berkeley lectures for a more intuitive understanding of the course content. With these resources at your fingertips, you’ll be well on your way to achieving your goals.
