American Classes in My Room; Coursera

Are you interested in MOOC? If you are, you maybe heard "Coursera". This is one of the biggest MOOC sites. If you aren't, you can know what it is through this writing. One of DSKUSSS members explains why this site is convenient to use. Please, read this and let us know what you are thinking through the comments!

American Classes in My Room; Coursera

Soeun Kim

Pusan National University

Polymer Science and Engineering

Have you ever imagined that you are taking popular classes in U.S with famous professors? You might think it is only in your dream. However, there is one way to make your dream real. Coursera, one of the MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) sites, can let you bring the American campus into your own room. Coursera is a pro-profit company that offers MOOC, and works with universities to make some of their courses available online. You can take courses from Harvard, Princeton, Wharton and so on, which are considered as foremost schools.
   This brilliant site, the Coursera was founded in 2012, by computer science professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller from Stanford University. At first, Coursera had few lectures, but now, they provide more than thousands courses and have over 13 million users from 190 countries.

Even there are many users, as the Coursera is based on online services, it would be hard to motivate and maintain the users who take the courses. However, it is said that the users are consistently motivated in the Coursera. How? There is a huge difference among other online lecture sites, “Certification system”. They give the option to pay a fee to join the “Signature Track”. Students on the signature track can receive verified certificates, if they take all of the courses, quizzes and other assignments. This system can make students self-motivated, as they can get certification by participation to the courses.

Through the Coursera, you can take any courses you want. You can learn Marketing from Wharton, Humanities from Harvard, or Thermodynamics from MIT. I believe that the Coursera made a campus without borders. At the same time, they made another way of educational opportunity. Why don’t you try to catch this great chance? Turn on the Coursera, and bring the world campus into your room!