Coursera release? suggestion

[Willem]

Now that Caltech has joined Coursera, are you planning to release this course on their platform?
This might be of benefit, because it will have a much larger exposure to potential students. Also, the activity on a typical course forum is huge, this might help to get more feedback than in this forum.
Also, I think this is a great course and will fit in perfectly without much extra work.

[yaser]

Originally Posted by Willem

Now that Caltech has joined Coursera, are you planning to release this course on their platform?
This might be of benefit, because it will have a much larger exposure to potential students. Also, the activity on a typical course forum is huge, this might help to get more feedback than in this forum.
Also, I think this is a great course and will fit in perfectly without much extra work.

Thank you for the suggestion.

[fgpancorbo]

To be honest, I like this format better (although I think that the programming exercises could be improved like what was done from HW6 by providing starting datasets instead of executing random experiments). This format feels like a real class, with the professor actually answering the questions. The Coursera format is more massively oriented. I took a class from them and I am currently taking another. Maybe this format self-selects those students who are really serious about the topic.

[samirbajaj]

I completely agree with you, fgpancorbo.

I've enjoyed this class more than the other classes I've taken.

For those of you who think an hour+ is too long, here's what I suggest you do:

On a Saturday morning when the rest of your family is still in bed, brew a pot of coffee, hook up your computer to the TV, and push the play button.

I look forward to the prof's "Welcome back..." every weekend, and I'm going to miss it sorely when the course is over.

-Samir

[anachesa]

I seem to have missed most of the discussion, but I'd like to support the other authors. Coursera is great initiative, I am taking several classes from them too and quite grateful that it gives the opportunity to refresh and/or replenish some knowledge, in most cases assuming relatively low initial common denominator. But I do like the grown-up approach here, even though it means more pain due to the gaps here and there between my eclectic knowledge base and what the CalTech students of today are supposed to know for this course. If nothing else, it reminds me a lot of my student years

[fgpancorbo]

Originally Posted by samirbajaj

I look forward to the prof's "Welcome back..." every weekend, and I'm going to miss it sorely when the course is over.
-Samir

. I have scheduled this class as if I was actually attending the class onsite. I watch the lectures on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And I do the assignments over the weekend (I don't have family obligations to worry about). It feels like working full time and taking a class part time, something that I already did some time ago at Stanford through their SCPD program before I went to grad school full time. I have also taken a Coursera class and I am enrolled to the PGM one. I prefer this format because it is so much closer to the real deal. And as I have said many times, the fact that Yaser himself answers the forum is a huge plus. That said, I think that getting into some kind of religious war about which platform is better is pointless. We should be happy that we all have the opportunity to continue to learn, and from the best in their fields!, without being formally enrolled in school, something that would not have been a possibility just 1-2 years ago.