IT Skills – ICAICT404A Task 4 – Reviewing free on-line lessons or non-accredited courses

Lots of universities have free on-line courses, but often they are nothing more than the lecture notes being made available to all and sundry and the subject matter is a bit esoteric. So it was not just a case of finding any institution which offered free on-line courses but finding one that offered a topic or subject that I was interested in. So eventually I found five which looked promising and then spent the time to do at least do one lesson in each, and then to revisit each and log back in or find the same course. My experiences are detailed below.

 

http://alison.com/courses/Colour-Theory-for-Artists-and-Designers/content

The website has lots of ads down the right hand side which does overwhelm some of the content and is distracting. You also needed to sign up to do any of the courses.

The course I chose was mainly in the form of slides with many, many words and few graphics. The interactive graphic I looked at was pretty poor. However, the topic was covered well with clear outline of modules covered and you can exit and go back to it or even redo it. There was no testing of the subject before moving on to the next module.

I did encounter a few problems when returning to the site because the way to restart the course was not obvious but once I found out how, I could see my progress and move on to the next module in the course.

Verdict - NOT TOO BAD

http://www.openculture.com/free_french_lessons from which I selected

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/mafrance/flash/#

Open Culture has links to hundreds of free on-line courses, so I decided to see about improving my French language skills.

There were lots of iTunes apps and some university level courses, but I thought the BBC course “Ma France” looked interesting. It consists of 24 video lessons as well as a range of activities to test your language skills. While the lessons are aimed squarely at tourists, the web site also offers syllabus details for teachers.

The two lessons that I watched proved engaging and you can get subtitles in both French and English if you had trouble following the video. You can also use the BACK button to repeat a sentence and each module offers a mini lesson for those without much time.

The Open Culture website was not awash with ads and I found the BBC course very easily. The course has its own homepage and was easy to navigate.

Verdict – FUN & USEFUL

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-history

Khan Academy is a not-for-profit organisation offering free materials and resources for self-paced learning with an emphasis on Maths and Science. I decided to go with something I know a bit about and chose Art History.

At first glance, the Art History course looked comprehensive but I found as I checked it out that the amount of material in each module varied considerably. Many of the notes accompanying lessons within the modules seemed a bit light and the length and quality of the videos also varied. Some videos were lengthy conversations, while others were short and sharp. There was little interactive content.

I was a bit disappointed but I suppose for a beginner this would be all new and offer up lots to learn. Some of the individual videos within the modules might also be useful for serious students of Art History as the speakers in most cases are academics or critics.

Verdict - OK

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/architecture/4-125-architecture-studio-building-in-landscapes-fall-2002/

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/architecture/4-605-introduction-to-the-history-and-theory-of-architecture-spring-2012/index.htm

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is one of many well-known US institutions which offer free on-line courses.

Lots of the offerings were in very specialised subject areas like Aeronautics and Engineering so I thought I would go to a subject that I have an interest in – Architecture. I actually looked at two courses offered at undergraduate level and was not really impressed by either.

The first one offered audio/video lectures of not very good quality. Noise levels were often high and drowned out the speaker. The second course looked promising, but lecture notes were minimal and you obviously need to buy a textbook. If you were serious about studying the subject, you would no doubt download everything and buy the book, but I was unable to participate in this course.

I must say that I was disappointed with the offerings from such a prestigious institution, but perhaps other departments offered better resourced courses.

Verdict – NO GO

http://oli.cmu.edu/courses/free-open/anatomy-physiology/

Carnegie Mellon University offers fewer courses than others but they seem to have been tailored specifically for on-line use. Participants can sign in to keep track of their progress or can enter the course at any time.

The Anatomy and Physiology course that I looked at was very comprehensive. It looked at all of the major systems of the body over fourteen (14) modules. Interspersed amongst the notes are questions and activities which give real time answers and test your knowledge. The pages are clear and easy to read.

After my experience at MIT, Carnegie Mellon was a joy – it’s just a shame they don’t have more topics.

Verdict – A DEFINITE YES

WEBSITE NAME	Alison	Open Culture / BBC	Khan Academy	MIT Open Course Ware	Carnegie Mellon
WEBSITE LAYOUT (* poor, ***** great)	**	****	****	****	****
LESSONS (* poor, ***** great)	***	*****	***	*	*****
COVERAGE OF TOPIC (* poor, ***** great)	****	****	***	**	*****
LEVEL (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced)	Intermediate	Beginner  to Intermediate	Beginner	Advanced	Beginner to Intermediate
RECOMMENDATION (* no, ***** definitely)	***	*****	***	*	*****
OVREALL RATING (* poor, ***** great)	***	****	***	*	*****