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Never heard of MOOC. will check them out. Free is good. I like free.
In case you haven't searched for it yet, MOOC stands for Massive Open Online Courses, and there are many different sites that offer both free and paid courses. You can catch some of them as they start, but many are archived that you can still take, you just wont be able to take part in some of the activities. I took a couple courses where the students had to grade each other's work, which I didn't appreciate to be honest so doing archived classes isn't so bad. You just wont be able to communicate with the instructor or as many of the other students.
While many of the courses are free they try to bait you into paying for a certificate which I've never done.
The few courses I've taken I've usually learned one or two things I was glad to learn about but for the most part I felt like I wasted my time.
Took one course on the media which I enjoyed. Another was on elderly care. My mother is now 81 and the course gave me insight into activities she might enjoy at her age. One of the sites had courses on five different religions that were kind of grouped together even though each religion had its own course devoted to it. The only one I ended up watching was on the Jewish faith which was interesting, and taught me what the Talmud is. Although I think it was a simplified explanation because the explanation given when doing a simple Google search is more complicated than what the rabbi teaching the class stated. Interesting nevertheless.
A couple MOOC websites I either used or checked out. (There are many others.):
I just got the brochure today, and I’m feel like a kid in a candy store. So many interesting courses to take, for $25. each.
I was not much of a student in my youth, but now I am interested in learning more about things.
Here is my question... if you were taking some courses, would you take the ones in subjects that you are passionate about, like gardening and art for me, OR would you take something you have been inept in, in hopes of gaining some mastery of it? Like math.
I've purchased a half doze or so Great Courses over the past 12 years or so.
My general impression is that they're high quality, interesting, and well presented.
The subjects I was really interested in seemed to be too short, while the ones I was trying to brush up on seemed too long. But the fact is, almost all of them are 24 lessons/presentations.
We enjoyed them, back before streaming was all that common. We got the ones on sale we were interested in like Philosophy, Religion, Impressionist artists and so on. Space travel .
I really like them, but wouldn't get any more these days with all the free content.
If you have an audible subscription you can use your credits on Great Courses. When you order one it comes with pdf versions of the supplemental materials.
You can also sign up for "Great Courses Plus" and get access to most (but not all) of their library for, iirc, $20 or $25 a month.
They are generally high quality but some are out of date. E.g.: a number of their history course were recorded in the 00s or even late 90s and you can tell they're dated now, not reflecting the newest research.
Again, please check out Hoopla, a free streaming service available through your public library system. Many Great Courses programs can be accessed there. For FREE. You don’t need to purchase them or sign up for Great Courses Plus, although you may wish to do so in the future to have unlimited access.
I really enjoy the Great Courses, and I’ve watched or listened to many of them through my local library. My favorites were probably the European history courses and the California Culinary Institute courses. My kids found the advanced math and science courses helpful as they were preparing for college.
Last edited by abbottkd71; 07-29-2020 at 01:14 PM..
You should try on youtube, there are many course at FREE.
The OP is specifically interested in the Great Courses, which can be accessed through the public library system. Yes, there’s plenty of good stuff on YouTube, but she isn’t going to find the Great Courses there.
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