Coursera

You should be aware of a valuable resource that you can take advantage of free of charge on the internet. Coursera describes itself as a “social entrepreneurship company,” which makes college courses available online. They are offering 214 courses (so far) in virtually all academic fields, taught by professors at 33 universities.

Right now, I'm in my ninth week of a 12-week course, “Think Again: How to Reason and Argue,” taught by two philosophy professors, Walter Sinott-Armstrong of Duke University and Ram Neta of the University of North Carolina. There are three to nine video lectures each week. Each lecture is followed by an ungraded quiz. There are four graded tests, which determine whether you pass the course and get a certificate. If you flunk a test, you can retake an alternate version. There are discussion forums with other students. The textbook is optional, and I seem to be doing fine without it. Other courses are structured differently. Some require papers. The difficulty level seems to be comparable to a typical undergraduate course. I'm spending about an hour a day on average in this course.

There are several courses about health care policy. I'm planning to take “Health Policy and the Affordable Care Act,” taught by Ezekial Emanuel of the University of Pennsylvania. I'm also looking forward to “Introduction to Sustainability,” with Jonathan Tomkin of the University of Illinois.

Is anyone interested in social psychology? You could take “Social Psychology” with Scott Plous of Wesleyan University, or you could take “A Beginner's Guide to Irrational Behavior,” taught by social psychologist Dan Ariely of Duke. I recommend both instructors. As a jazz fan, I'm intrigued by “Introduction to Improvisation,” by vibraphonist Gary Burton. Unfortunately, I don't play an instrument.

Lurking in the background is the question of how these “entrepreneurs” plan to make money out of this website. According to the New York Times, two possibilities are to charge colleges and universities for allowing their students to take these courses for credit, or to charge students whose universities will accept these courses as transfer credits. Of course, its also possible that they will start to charge their internet consumers directly. In the meantime, this is one of the greatest bargains on the web.