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Re:Coursera shuts access to old platform courses by pedalpete on Saturday June 11, 2016 @12:33AM (#11882081)
Some people learn by being taught, some people learn by doing. MOOCs cater to the first.

I know this, because I am in the second (you may be too). I'll dig around looking for the information because I am using it right at that moment and NEED to understand it.

I did a Coursera Machine Learning course, my first University level class after being out of school since the early 90s. I learned how about matrices (had very little math experience before), I learned about transforms, I tried to figure out what all the cryptic symbols meant, but MOSTLY, I learned how to answer the test questions.

I don't feel I really have any more understanding of machine learning today than I did before the course. Different strokes...

Re:Coursera shuts access to old platform courses by justinhj on Saturday June 11, 2016 @01:56AM (#11882288)
Personally I think both needs are met by moocs. If you want to be taught watch the lectures. If you want a more practical self directed approach do the exercises. Most people will do both
Re:Coursera shuts access to old platform courses by jaypeedevlin on Saturday June 11, 2016 @06:40AM (#11882968)
Disclosure, I work for Dataquest.io but prior to getting the job was a student and a massive fan.

I believe we offer an awesome alternative for learning DS with a 'learn by doing' approach.