Stanford Online Computer Science Courses

Stanford university is offering 3 free online courses starting in October. While you don't get official Stanford credit for completing these courses, you do get a special certificate from the course instructors saying you completed the course and your grade.

Artificial Intelligence: http://www.ai-class.com/
Machine Learning: http://www.ml-class.com/
Databases: http://www.db-class.org/

Personally I'm going to be doing the AI one, and maybe the ML one if my workload from my real university courses and part time job isn't too great. Although I've already taken a course in machine learning and am currently taking one in data mining, so there probably isn't a lot in the ML one that I don't already know. I've always hated databases, so haven't even considered that one!

Are you guys going to be trying any of these?

Depends on how busy I am. I'm also a bit weary of Stanford since they rejected me from their summer school for having too many Asians or something.

There are 13 courses they offer, not just 3:
http://see.stanford.edu/see/courses.aspx

The difference, though, is that they only offer downloadable materials, not some sort of certificate or tests or that kind of thing.

The DB-class is useless for me, as introduction is kind of meh when you know it all. AI and ML is something I have at the current moment anyway, so including them into my workload isn't really that much of a deal.

Are these classes in any way related to my real college career or are they just a nice side thing that people might or might not recognize? I'm certainly thrilled to learn more, especially for free, and it'd help to know that I can go at it at my own pace.

It really depends on how you define your "college career". For me, opportunities like this to learn more are exciting, and it's also a great test of time management and self discipline. Unlike "real" courses, you don't have the reward of course credit, so have to be motivated by the learning itself.

It really depends on how you define your "college career". For me, opportunities like this to learn more are exciting, and it's also a great test of time management and self discipline. Unlike "real" courses, you don't have the reward of course credit, so have to be motivated by the learning itself.

They actually have videos and everything distributed online, exactly what I wanted. I'm struggling enough to keep my GPA with all the Humanities bullcrap classes so I didn't want extra weight just for the genuine pleasure of learning more.

I'm soooo happy I study in New Zealand. We don't have that electives stuff here. My undergraduate degree consisted of 19 computer science courses, 6 math courses, and 1 geology course! (The geology course was on natural disaster risks in New Zealand and I hated it, although 2 years later I realised it was one of the most useful courses I've ever taken! (in particular the earthquake section))

Wow, so jealous. I'm a Computer Science major and I'm allowed to take a whole total of 2 computer-related-at-all classes in 2 years.

My undergraduate degree consisted of 19 computer science courses, 6 math courses, and 1 geology course!

Wait... what? When was the last time you had to take an English course? Physics? Chemistry? x_x

I took a Physics and Chemistry course in my last year of high school (That finished 3 and a half years ago), and an English course in my second to last year of high school.

Despite the earthquakes, my country > yours

I liked the elective component of my undergrad career, but they were pretty open with it (you had to get breadth and depth, ie. breadth -> 3 courses in 3 unrelated subjects, depth -> 3 courses in a single subject related to the major)

I took one English course and it was interesting but I'm glad that's not my major

I've already taken a course that is essentially same as AI, and a few that probably cover the ML material, might look into the DB one since it's a subject I'm curious about.

I took a Physics and Chemistry course in my last year of high school (That finished 3 and a half years ago), and an English course in my second to last year of high school.

Despite the earthquakes, my country > yours

Seriously? I had to go out of my way to get a single computer related course this semester. Why can't we have nice things out here?

Oh wow, I just realised that these classes don't start until 3 of my 4 proper classes have finished. Maybe I'll do all 3 just because I can

I signed up for DB but I'm also going to try a 6pm-2am job... Not sure if this is gonna work out.

I'm soooo happy I study in New Zealand. We don't have that electives stuff here.

Wut. We kinda do. My degree is predominantly business papers, but I think there are 2(?) classes I can fill with anything, and 2 classes that have to be taken from the general education schedule.

Registration's up on AI at least. Sounds good, they decided to have two classes: Basic and Advanced.

Signed up for the AI one. Waiting on DB, since I suck at that. Still not sure on ML.