Review of the course Design: Creation of Artifacts in Society
Back to the courseFirst Week of Coursera, Design: Creation of Artifacts in Society
My first week with Coursera's on-line university course Design: Creation of Artifacts in Society was difficult but ended up being incredible rewarding.
Coursera is an on-line university completely free, taught by real professors and linked to well respected universities in Canada, the United States and around the world. It is completely free. Yes, free. However, you will not get accredited for it. Right now it is for the joy of learning by some of the best professors out there.
I enrolled because I get very little design experience in my everday life which is a direction I strongly want my career to go in. I was hoping this course would get me excited and get my mind thinking about design again. The only design course offered is Design: Creation of Artifacts and is being taught by Karl T. Ulrich from the University of Pennsylvania.
My life is like everyone's. It is busy. I have a full time job as a Landscape Architect, am married, have a five month old little girl and a dog who gives me dirty looks if we don't walk her twice a day. Coursera says this course is a 5-10 hour work load per week. That frightened me. I almost didn't enroll. I eventually thought, if I can't do it, I un-enroll and nothing lost. Here is how the first week went.
There were several videos to watch which is how the course is presented. At most a video is 12 minutes long or so. These were easy to watch and informative. There is also a free textbook as suggested reading by Ulrich, (download it here). The first two chapters did not take long to read and reinforced the information from the video. It is basic 101 design information that is interesting.
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