Ask Slashdot: Best Setups For Navigating a Programming-Focused MOOC? 39
theodp writes: As one works his or her way through EdX's free The Analytics Edge, one finds oneself going back-and-forth between videos and R to complete the programming exercises associated with the lectures. While this can certainly be done on a cheap-o 13" laptop with a 6mbps connection by jumping around from the web-based videos to the client-based programming environment and to the web for help (god bless Stack Overflow), have you found (or do you dream of) a better setup for the MOOC programming courses offered by the likes of EdX, Udacity, and Coursera? Are you using multiple screens, split screens, touch screens, laptops/desktops/tablets, speakers, headphones, higher-speed connections? Anything else? Do you rely solely on the class materials and web-based resources, or do you purchase complementary books? Any thoughts on how to make the experience work best for those learning at home, in a classroom setting, on the road for business/travel, or during lengthy train commutes? Do you playback videos at faster speeds (e.g., 1.5x)? Any other tips?
Re: (Score:2)
Videos suck. They are a waste of time as they cannot be searched or indexed like text. I hate video training for that reason and prefer to avoid them.
Dual monitor workstation + laptop to play content (Score:3)
Re: (Score:1)
That's basically all MOOCs are: a way for third-worlders to try to acquire meaningless certificates without actually doing anything to earn them
Ouch as a third worlder(argentinian) this hits very near home, but I guess it's true for many people but not for me (and I bet for many others). For me personally it's about learning, I started one on cryptography and couldn't actually finish , but I downloaded every class video and I'm going to complete it on the next term ( I was doing quite good on the homeworks but the pace was too fast for someone who also works full time).
When I started I assumed the certificate is not the most important thing to get
Re: (Score:2)
The courses shouldn't be designed for "best" (Score:2)
The courses shouldn't be designed for idealized setups like multiple monitors. Most people who are going to be taking an online course are those who can't afford to go to a college or university, so they're far from likely to be in possession of multiple-monitor or other fancy-schmancy setups.
I'd lay odds that a 1080p laptop is even pushing it; many of them probably have 720p laptops.
Re: (Score:1)
>Most people who are going to be taking an online course are those who can't afford to go to a college or university
Sorry, but I don't think this is true - at least not in my case. I have a Masters in Chem Eng, and a steady job (18+ years) that pays well - I can certainly afford to pay for courses at a college or university. I have, in fact, completed a programming certificate at a community college after my masters degree.
But in the last few years, I've done multiple MOOC's, in a variety of topics - pro
Re: (Score:2)
The courses shouldn't be designed for idealized setups like multiple monitors.
They're not -- they're just designed for a very specific course style: the one used in Andrew Ng's Machine Learning course. It works quite well for that partly because he's dealing with a complex subject that means students need a lot of input and explanation before attempting tasks, and partly because of Ng's exemplary skills as a lecturer.
Most programming courses, on the other hand, involve lots of tiny incremental tasks that need minimal explanation, followed by several practise tasks to internalise the
Re: (Score:2)
Right. Because nobody who owns a fairly recent computer ever has an obsolescent one lying around that they could just use for, say, watching videos/reading transcripts while doing stuff on the newer one (or vice versa).
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The folks that have that kind of setup just laying around tend not to be the one these courses say they're aimed at. That guy would be fine with C for Dummies and a little help getting a CLI compiler setup, figuring out how to get it to run his programs in his GUI, etc. The courses say they're aimed at the nontraditional college student, and those folks would probably be buying their first desktop ever just to take the class..
Even the geeks who can't code yet, but have lots of electronical shit from way bac
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, I'd forgotten about all the people who have a decent computer and a reliable enough internet connection to participate in MOOCs but live in cardboard boxes.
Desk space my arse.
Re: (Score:2)
I don't know about a cardboard box.
But I live in what you people (aka: the ones who spell it arse) would call a very small flat, basically a bedsit plus a 10 by 12 bedroom. I got one desk. It does not have room for two monitors a printer and two towers. To have the desktop space for all the electronical doohickeys and thingamabobs that people are saying I should have I'd need to get rid of a bunch of shit and acquire a much bigger desk. Which would require getting rid of something (probably a book-case).
I prefer W3schools (Score:2)
When someone makes a written mistake in a slidecast/pencast-type video, there's no going back to correct it. To me that renders a lot of MOOCs frustratingly confusing. It also means that all their talk about gathering data "to impro
Re: (Score:2)
Are you saying there's no such thing as video editing?
I was under the impression that there were numerous programs - even some free ones - that can do it.
Re: (Score:2)
what works (Score:1)
I could get into the minutiae of setups but on that front by far the most important physical thing is having either a dual (or more) screen setup or having two physical systems. The rest of it really isn't that important (unless you specifically need some HID to do your job).
To that, the I would say the most beneficial trait I've seen in any successful worker or learner is the drive to actually go out, start a project, and finish it. The finishing an external project is key.
That being said, you have to unde
OMG! You mean MOOC is real! (Score:2)
When did Master of Orion for the Cloud (MOOC) get announced?
I had a roommate who would play MOO2 by keeping everyone at bay long enough to build out 36 Death Stars and then systematically wipe out every enemy planet one by one. Now that's shock and awe.
Beware of stackoverflow (Score:2)
Stackoverflow started off very well. Intelligent questions and intelligent answers. But over time it declined. Now there are some really dumb quests that have absolutely wrong answer being given and voted up. You've got to spend a lot of time there to get the ability to answer a question or upgrade/downgrade answers, so if you see a wrong answer you may be disallowed from pointing this out.
So when you go there beware. Read ALL of the answers and the comments.
Re: (Score:2)
> "You've got to spend a lot of time there to get the ability to answer a question or upgrade/downgrade answers."
You really don't. You need 15 rep to vote up an answer, which entails posting one good question or one good answer (you need more rep, 125, to vote down, but you also lose rep by voting down answers, so people worried about their rep don't do that very often anyway). Anyway, just downvoting isn't very useful - a much more useful contribution, if you see an answer that's incorrect, would be to
download all of the things (Score:3)
https://github.com/coursera-dl... [github.com]
Its a lot easier when you have whole course material on the hdd and play video clips in mplayer window.
dual monitors / textbook / get off my lawn etc. (Score:1)