The MOOC and Me

I signed up for a couple of on-line free classes with EDX.org at the end of last year and the first one has just begun.

Technically, it began right on the first of the year and I'm already two weeks behind but, since the course work isn't due until the end of the year, I think I have plenty of time to catch up.

I suspect I may have skewed the survey they make you take before starting the course. I'm sure I'm at the far right end of the age range. But I did still remember my high school SAT scores (within a reasonable margin of error).

This course is Harvard's basic introduction to computer programming. So far I've watched the first week's lectures (two of them) and the supplementary videos. I was pleased to find out I knew most of this stuff already apparently having picked it up by osmosis just by using computers on a regular basis. (We're talking real basics here: bits, binary, hexadecimal and pseudocode.) I have an assigned project to use Harvard's teaching language (it uses intuitive little snap together puzzle pieces in place of written code) to build a demo game, or animation, or story or whatever. So that's what I'll be doing this weekend.

I'm also signed up for another programming course through the University of Louvain, France that starts next month. Then we'll see if I've taken on more than I can handle at one time. The goal, after all, is to reinvigorate my brain, not break it.

In the meantime, although they can't see me, I feel energized already watching all the college kids in the lecture hall.