Basics of Computing and Programming

Of course, don’t just take my word for the-audit the course first. I wish I had originally done that but I was dong NYU’s cybersecurity course which is of good quality so I assumed this would be the same. So here it goes…

BLUF: Take GTs Intro to Python and Harvard’s Intro to CS instead. The information is mostly there but it’s buried under poor presentation organization and design that dates back to overhead slides and projectors.

Bluntly, for a beginner this course is not worth it. To pay so much money for low-grade presentations, just better to audit the course or go somewhere else. The presentations are long-winded and unclear for a beginner. For example, in the first few minutes the instructor mentions a “ ASCII table” ( I never heard of it before and if not for subtitles I would’ve though he said “haskey”. ). All the context the presenter gives is a slapdash visual of it. I get as the instructor said, the class will go into more detail later but this is a prime example. This gives me a feeling of a sloppy course organization for a money grab. I mean, I just paid money for the instructor to show me just a table without even writing the title anywhere? Again, if subtitles weren’t there I would’ve had no idea how to begin researching it or have any grounding on what that table was. Then in the next lecture on number systems, he shows on the screen upfront, “Back Yj YQC ^GF”. Like what is that?! No explanation, no context. Basic presentation skills, give an overview, give your information, and then recap. Or even better yet, why should we care??!! And if you’re putting something on the screen you definitely should explain that. Like how many number systems are you going through? At least give a list on the screen. Heck, googling gave me this document, which was better than the first lectures. https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/teaching/1415/CompFund/NumberSystemsAnnotated.pdf

And while I appreciate the instructor he says uhh so much, he’s obviously uncomfortable and not polished speaker. This is not a live demonstration-if you’re recording keep at it until it’s a good quality. Other courses offer a transcript of the presentation-I much rather would have that option.

I’m only in the first segment of this class and already frustrated with the lack of offering reinforcing material-no extra links, documents. Some people are asking for it in the forums but why wasn’t this designed into the class? The instructors are counting on death by bad lecture. If you’re paying for the name brand of NYU, sure. If you’d rather not pay this much money for low-grade presentations and class format-I’d recommend Georgia Tech has an EXCELLENT Intro to Python course and Harvard has an Intro to Computer Science that is much more engaging/informative to someone trying reach into the computer science world.

Again nitpicking. Besides no transcripts,the presentations don’t have a timer on the file. For me, it helps my planning to know what I can accomplish in my free time or even when I stopped so I can pick up later.

This may be harsh but again, for the name NYU and the money-this needs to be a lot better.

This course is part of a 3-course MicroBachelor's program. I thought the quality of the programming questions were high, but the platform was VERY CONFUSING to use: you have to manually mark complete for exercises that aren't even "questions" but merely tutorials. If you marked complete by mistake, you get a zero. I contacted the course support, all they did was telling me to "contact your course instructor" whom might be non-existent plus a web article.

The video lectures were good, though they would be more easily navigated if they were broken into smaller sections, like most other EdX or MOOC courses. The final exam was probably the strangest thing. First thing first, it was proctored -- which is good. However, it only has 9 questions, and accounts for a very large proportion of your grade. No matter how you think of its difficulty, you have to really make sure to not miss anything.

I gave a 3 star acknowledging the course material, which is approachable and counts towards a MicroBachelors certificate. According to the EdX web / course description, TESU grants credit for it at no cost, so it's really a step up from many MOOCs. However, the materials there could really be refined and better delivered.

It's described as a 'gentle' introduction, and I think that's about right. The lectures are quite thorough, and the instructor is actually providing some really useful pieces of information that won't necessarily be obvious right away.

The pace is probably too slow, but for someone really just starting out, I'm sure it would be fine. I think lots of shorter videos work better than one long video, but that could be a personal preference.

I like that there were several problems with auto-grading - the best way to learn a language is to actually solve problems - but the practice sets were (IMHO) too easy, I would have liked more 'finger exercises' and harder problem sets.

By far the best beginner's course(s) for python I've come across have been the Georgia Tech's Computing in Python (1-4) courses. While I think this course is solid and a good choice for true beginners, it's probably not rigorous enough for someone really looking to learn.