AllAboutPeace Posted January 2, 2013 Report Share Posted January 2, 2013 I know that this is the time of year, in general, that people start evaluating or re-valuating what direction they want their lives to go in; set goals for the new year, etc. For many of us though, because of our illness, that may be a completely new direction from the one that we were heading in before. I know that I, personally, have been struggling to find a direction that fits within my physical limitations.When I was sick in bed for days over the holidays, I was searching the internet for inspiration. I came upon a podcast of the "12 Best Ideas of 2012". One of the ideas was about Coursera, which was created by two Stanford professors. Their vision is as follows... About CourseraWe are a social entrepreneurship company that partners with the top universities in the world to offer courses online for anyone to take, for free. We envision a future where the top universities are educating not only thousands of students, but millions. Our technology enables the best professors to teach tens or hundreds of thousands of students. Through this, we hope to give everyone access to the world-class education that has so far been available only to a select few. We want to empower people with education that will improve their lives, the lives of their families, and the communities they live in. Our CoursesClasses offered on Coursera are designed to help you master the material. When you take one of our classes, you will watch lectures taught by world-class professors, learn at your own pace, test your knowledge, and reinforce concepts through interactive exercises. When you join one of our classes, you'll also join a global community of thousands of students learning alongside you. We know that your life is busy, and that you have many commitments on your time. Thus, our courses are designed based on sound pedagogical foundations, to help you master new concepts quickly and effectively. Key ideas include mastery learning, to make sure that you have multiple attempts to demonstrate your new knowledge; using interactivity, to ensure student engagement and to assist long-term retention; and providing frequent feedback, so that you can monitor your own progress, and know when you've really mastered the material. We offer courses in a wide range of topics, spanning the Humanities, Medicine, Biology, Social Sciences, Mathematics, Business, Computer Science, and many others. Whether you're looking to improve your resume, advance your career, or just learn more and expand your knowledge, we hope there will be multiple courses that you find interesting. So the reasons I thought this would be great for us...1. it's free - so we aren't limited by our financial situations2. it's all done on-line, so we can do it when we feel up to it3. it's available world wide4. there's a wide variety of courses available - a few examples are: Intro Human Physiology; Genetics and Evolution; Epigenetics; Medical Neuroscience; Nutrition courses; Personal Finance; Smart Growth for Private Businesses; Songwriting; Intro to Guitar; Computer courses. *some courses require some basic knowledge in the field, but many are intro.5. it may help some of us get new skills, which may help for career changes or if/when we are able to re-enter the workforce. For me, I think I need to feel like I'm advancing forward in some way even though healthwise I seem to be at a standstill.The link is https://www.coursera.org/ where you can see the list of participating universities.Harvard and MIT have also collaborated to offer free courses as well at https://www.edx.org/I hope this info is helpful Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katybug Posted January 3, 2013 Report Share Posted January 3, 2013 You are awesome for finding and posting this! I have been hoping to find something like this if for no other reason than to keep my mind busy and working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imre Posted January 3, 2013 Report Share Posted January 3, 2013 Kahn academy is similar maybe not as in depth. http://www.khanacademy.org/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k&ajsmom Posted January 3, 2013 Report Share Posted January 3, 2013 wow! how awesome is that! thx for posting this, I def am gonna check this out! Im gonna need a career change since Ive been out since oct and cant see me going back, and of course that hurts my piggy bank severely so this is perfect!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllAboutPeace Posted January 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2013 I have been hoping to find something like this if for no other reason than to keep my mind busy and working.That's exactly what I was thinking! I want to test my Potsy brain to see if it can still function.Kahn academy is similar maybe not as in depth. http://www.khanacademy.org/Thanks for this link! I was checking out some of the medical info on heart functioning - it's simplified and informative. I can see myself using this site for different things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllAboutPeace Posted January 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2013 wow! how awesome is that! thx for posting this, I def am gonna check this out! Im gonna need a career change since Ive been out since oct and cant see me going back, and of course that hurts my piggy bank severely so this is perfect!!!It is a really exciting program! It's such an amazing way to provide opportunities for soo many people. I hope you find something of interest to you. I'd love to hear about anyone's experience with this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Altruism Posted January 4, 2013 Report Share Posted January 4, 2013 Thanks for this awesome information! I am way too symptomatic to read/learn/use my brain now, but IF/WHEN I get better, I might give this a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peregrine Posted January 4, 2013 Report Share Posted January 4, 2013 You might also check out Open CourseWare at MIT - nothing POTS-related, but good resources if you want to just take classes:http://ocw.mit.edu(a friend used to work there; it's one of the oldest free online class materials and courses) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllAboutPeace Posted February 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 Bumping this thread...for anyone who wants to learn more about how our bodies are meant to work... Introductory Human Physiology from Duke University starts tomorrow. Here is a link to the course description https://www.coursera.org/#course/humanphysioI'm just finishing the Personal Finance course and am in the middle of a Human Nutrition course. I have learned lots of relevant and helpful things so far and I recommend Coursera for anyone who has the time or circumstance to be able to do it. I think, for me, the best thing has been that it has helped me to feel productive again and I discovered that my brain can still function and learn (at least some days ). Plus I can apply what I've learned to improve my own situation (when soo many aspects of my current life are out of my control). There have been sometimes several days in a row that I can't even think about doing the course work, but the flexibility of the courses allow for that and I haven't fallen behind yet.If anyone wants more info, I'd be happy to help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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