2013 Coursera Round-up

This year has been very good in terms of learning for me -- thanks to Coursera. In chronological order, here is my 2013 journey:

• Statistics: Making Sense of Data offered by the University of Toronto
• This was an introductory course that allowed me to gently dip my feet into the waters of Statistics. A good start for someone who hasn't done Statistics beyond school. Also good in that "R" was optional so I was able to focus on core learning without worrying about programming skills.
• Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars

• Internet History, Technology and Security offered by the University of Michigan
• This was a lightweight course about the Internet. I learned a few nuggets of useful information.
• Rating: 3 out of 5 stars 

• Introduction to Systematic Program Design offered by the University of British Columbia
• This was one of the most awesome courses I have ever done. I've been a "developer" and have taken "programming" courses in the past, but this was a completely mind-blowing experience. Professor Gregor Kizcales started simple -- catering to non-programmers but covered immense ground by the end of the course, even simplifying hairy concepts like recursion and making practices such as Test Driven Development and Refactoring come to life.
• Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

• Information Security and Risk Management in Context offered by the University of Washington
• I signed up for this course thinking it would offer me good insight into Security Testing. It was the only "management" course that I took this year, and frankly was quite disappointed by the breadth and lack of depth. Only a few nuggets of actionable (for me) information. 
• Rating: 2 out of 5 stars 

•  Computing for Data Analysis offered by Johns Hopkins University

• This was a short and sweet introductory course in R and served me well for the next course that I did. 
• Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

• Statistics One offered by Princeton University
• I signed up for this thinking it would serve as a good refresher to the Statistics course I did earlier in the year. This course is a *mind-blowing* introduction to Statistics. Professor Andrew Conway *really* explained the concepts (v/s just applying the various tests) in a way that demystified introductory Statistics for me. 
• Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

• A Brief History of Humankind offered by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
• I signed up for this course out of curiosity and I must say I enjoyed watching the videos. Professor Harari introduced more than a few hilarious moments while taking us through the history of humankind. A moment forever etched in my mind is that of a modern day human being hurriedly gobbling chocolate cake from the refrigerator in order to save it from the local baboon band! What I particularly appreciated about the course was the way the professor attempted to present conflicting theories to explain events without being judgmental. A fun course to take.
• Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars

Doing seven courses in one year has been absolutely phenomenal for me (I'm a mom with a full-time day job). It feels great to be part of an era where the best of professors from the best of universities are teaching me advanced topics that I never thought would be accessible to me so easily and at such awesome quality. 

Free availability of such superior learning on the Internet should also give pause to the rank-and-file centers of learning of my country that churn out brain-dead graduates who spew memorized material with little or no understanding of it.

On a sobering note, while the courses have put me in a very sharp place mentally, the pace is not quite sustainable and I plan to have no more than one active course at a time in 2014.