look_mom_its_me

The worst part is that no credit is given for very reputable MOOC's at all. A few years ago I took MIT's "Computational Thinking with Python" MOOC because I got my high-school kid into it and wanted to go through it with him so I could motivate and help him.

I even presented that certificate, and it was rejected: "We don't recognize MOOC's". The irony is thick and wide.

And so, again, having, at the very least, done the MIT course they force you to undergo the torture of "Fundamentals of Programming" 1 and 2 and the other truly elementary beyond description stuff.

This is truly frustrating. And support is useless. They take five days to answer any question and they must have so many students they have no time to pay attention to anything. I have literally received answers having nothing to do with my query.

Considering dropping out before it starts. The idea of spending a year and a half "learning" about loops and arrays grinds my raw to the bone.

At a fundamental ethical level it is, in my opinion, wrong.

I tried. It seems nobody is setup to consider the idea that one come come to the table with deep and wide CS knowledge. The right approach would be one where the person is evaluated through one or more tests and given the opportunity to start the journey at the appropriate level.

I simply cannot understand the idea that someone at a university would think it is fair to force someone to undergo over a year of what amounts to torture before actually reaching courses where that person might start to learn. Something is very seriously wrong with an educational system that is so rigidly attached to a menu you must consume in a specified sequence without regards for what the person might know before starting.