Look what I got :)

Tags

computer science, edx, free quality education, python

Here it is finally:

I am going to give EDX a break – at least until second quarter in 2014, when the next course in this series is going to start.

Behavioural Economics in Action

Tags

BE101x, behavioural economics, certificate, course, edx

After reading some books about that subject, I went one step forward and I took a course at EDX. I graduated recently and here is my Certificate – second one from that platform. Third one should follow shortly 🙂

What is Going On?

Tags

BUenos Aires, computer science, course, edx, shoe polisher, stats, travel

I have been neglecting WordPress for a while now and I am sorry for it, but there is some stuff going on:

• still reading a lot, will update my book list soon. I am reading now “Big Data“, in my opinion one of the truly must-read books, at least if you want to know what future will bring. Last one I read, called “The Magic of Thinking Big” is pretty much a waste of time, at least for me.
• still learning a lot, now at the end of two courses from EDX, one Behavioural Economics and other Computer Science (this time with MIT). I am almost done, will post certificates here if and when I will get them 🙂
• travelling a lot, I will post my stats as usual at the end of the year, but I am now approaching 140 days on the road this year.
• I missed your reaction to this picture:

I liked it, although of course many of you would not even consider it to be a good photograph. But maybe if I tell you what it is you would change your mind? It is a man polishing shoes (I honestly have no idea how that profession is called) in Buenos Aires. If you look closely, you can see his hands moving working on some shoe, his head moving to the rhythm… Next to him a bucket for some scraps of cloth. A man whose profession is dying. I have not seen many of such guys, even in Vegas they seem to be going away.

Well, do you like that picture better now? 🙂

Got It!

Tags

certificate, CS50, education, edx, Harvard

Here it is, look at this pretty thing:

Isn’t it pretty? I am so proud of it… Nothing but some zeros and ones coming together to build this certificate, but for me it is so much more. A proof that I can, that I was smart enough to finish this course on par with Harvard students twice as young as me; that I managed my time good enough to make it; that I learned something new… I am grateful to EDX platform for this opportunity. I don’t know how many people will ever use your services, but here you have one old(er) fart which is jumping from joy 🙂

Free Quality Education

Tags

computer science, course, education, edx, Harvard, online

“Learning is not the same as study, nor the same as training. It is bigger than both. It is a cast of mind, a habit of life, a way of thinking about things, a way of growing” (from “The Age of Unreason” by Charles Handy).

“…Real learning gets to the heart of what it means to be human. Through learning we re-create ourselves. Through learning we become able to do something we never were able to do. Through learning we reperceive the world and our relationship to it. Through learning we extend our capacity to create, to be part of generative process of life…” (from “The Fifth Discipline” by Peter M. Senge).

I have been neglecting my blog for few last weeks because I am learning again. I took up a Computer Science course from Harvard, called CS50, which is offered free online here.

Some of the great universities got together and offered, free for anyone, anytime, anywhere, some of their courses. The one I am fighting through is, at least for me, very well done but it proved to be so challenging, that I don’t have time for pretty much anything, which annoys my wife immensely :), but I really enjoy it – the course I have chosen teaches programming and since this is a completely new area for me, I have to kick all my brain cells into high gear in order to complete assignments. Yes, the course is not “walk in the park, copy paste” kind of thing. It is difficult, it demands from you your own thinking, and it teaches. I hope that I will manage to finish it before the April 13 (deadline)… If not, then I hope that I will manage to finish it at all – gaining new skills, new perspective, creating new me in the process 🙂

That promised HarvardX certificate is also a nice carrot 🙂