The Science of Everyday Thinking

This course started interesting and some things were forgiven, up until I took a one week break and I returned to it. Then, it started to feel flat.
So, here are my thoughts:

The Good:
- extra material (if you really want to get into details, there are 30 min-60 min video, at the end of each week
- some experiments on people; especially the ones where we get to know why they thought that way
- the interviews and the discussion between the 2 guys did not have cuts; only one take, which felt ok
- quiz after each week

The Bad:
- the camera work, from one guy to another; it felt like a student work
- the wind, in some videos, as you could hear it and it felt distracting
- seeing the back of one guy when the other one speaks
- seeing the other one always agreeing to what the other one says - it might not be NLP, but it does feel like it
- some discussions are just discussions, between the 2 guys
- the close-ups at the end of the interviews - is that really necessary? To have one in my face?
- some talks have poor examples and way of handling it (like the one with the 100 people taking a quiz without understanding the language - also known as the "flip a coin" experiment; but they do not take this one, but the people one)
- some arguments for why or how it should be feels quite arrogant; this 2 guys feel like they learn nothing when talking and we, as online students, just listen to their talks
- some quiz questions are for memory, instead of learning (ex: When X was talking about this situation, what was the result?)
- this 12 week material could have been easily cut into 6-8; it is just a "let's introduce a subject" followed by "let's ask an expert" and "this are our thoughts"
- We do not know who this 2 guys actually are, what they do. It feel like they had an idea of a course, got some ideas, found some experts to help them explore and that's it. They feel to chill, too relaxed for giving a course
- If one starts to think about "why am I taking this course", then the course loses its meaning. Note that this is an online course, so it matters if students get bored. As I feel better if I quit it now, instead of going through all 12 weeks, this courses gets worse.
- the psychology/philosophy level is basic; they do not leave questions unanswered, which makes it quite dull. If I wanted opinions on those, I would just use Google.

The Irrelevant:
- the campus videos - it is just a show off to those who take it online
- although I got only to week 7, no matter how good or bad you answer the quizes, there is no target for each of them (I like the pressure of the Coursera courses, as the intention IS for you to learn, instead of just taking tests)
- in each week, the talk between the 2 is in another setting - who cares? Is what we see around them more important than what we should learn from this course?

Extra:
I've read some of the 5 star reviews, claiming this course is amazing and now some mistakes will no longer be made. So what? This is just life and it is all about perspective, as well as experience.

**Beware: This course has the potential to change YOU**

When I saw the trailer for his MOOC, it was nothing short of awesome, so I enrolled right away. Today, I am glad I did that. This course is a great example of what MOOCs should be and can be.

This course talks about the biases that prevent us from making informed decisions. Therefore, it has roots in Science and Psychology. We live in a world where politicians, salespeople, and marketing agencies (to name a few) use different psychological factors to influence our thought process and we end up making bad choices (unintentionally) . This course informs you of those so that you can make better decisions. Decisions that are backed by reason and not just your intuition. This is your guide to knowing a little more about your mental limitations and how you can be more aware of them.
It will help you develop a rigorous method of finding stuff out using the Scientific Method on your own.

The professors follow a very interactive mode of instruction. You never feel as if they are university professors because they 'run the show' as if it were a program on National Geographic or the History channel. They have tried everything to make the content engaging and interesting. They visited notable people across the globe so that the students can learn from the masters themselves and that surely would have taken a lot of their time. The interviews, exercises and discussions were interesting.

I strongly recommend this MOOC

I wish I had taken this course earlier when I was a full-time student in college. This made me rethink and change how I study and learn. It turned out that my study habits were not very effective from a psychological point of view.

As the word “everyday” on the course title suggests, it covers a very broad range of different topics on thinking. Although I was particularly not interested in certain topics, this actually made me realize my narrow mindedness on how we think. Thinking was not limited to what so called intellectual activities and problem solving.

On the other hand, this course could had been better, with a summary at the end of the each module and concise definitions of important terminologies. Possibly because this was my very first class on psychology, I sometimes found some discussions a bit confusing.

Nevertheless, I found this course quite interesting. The lecturers were very enthusiastic, and the interviews with guest speakers were excellent. With a broad coverage in different topics on thinking, this course could have something to offer to everyone. Highly recommended.

"The Science of Everyday Thinking" course offered by the University of Queensland via edX is an excellent program for anyone interested in exploring the cognitive processes that drive everyday thinking. This course is designed to help individuals understand how their minds work and the various factors that can influence their decision-making and problem-solving abilities.

One of the strengths of this course is its comprehensive coverage of the different aspects of everyday thinking, from perception and attention to memory and decision-making. The course modules are well-structured and clearly presented, making it easy for learners to follow and engage with the material. Additionally, the course includes interactive exercises and quizzes that reinforce learning and allow learners to test their understanding of the concepts covered.

The course instructors are knowledgeable and experienced in the field of cognitive psychology, and they provide clear and engaging explanations of the various topics covered in the course.
Overall, I highly recommend "The Science of Everyday Thinking" course to anyone interested in understanding the cognitive processes that underlie everyday thinking. The course is well-designed, informative, and engaging

THINK101

As the title “the science of everyday thinking” suggests, this course will help you to think more precisely in decision-making using scientific approach even about your health claims, personal beliefs, and personality attributes. Sound knowledge of some basic intuitions, heuristics, illusions, fallacies, errors, and biases would be a valuable tool to change your judgment about the world. As it is actually more different and deceiving than you previously think it should be.

At the end of this course, you will be able to avoid some common mistakes which people, belonging to every field of life, usually commit without even any intention, whether they are examining the patient, preparing for exams, conducting an experiment, judging someone’s character, making an opinion and also presenting a murder case in the court. In all sorts of these events, the involvement of the human mind makes them less reliable and most of the time you only confirm your previous expectations. Once you have learned that how to learn, it is quite certain that you will be analytical, skeptical, creative and productive in your daily life circumstances

The course was quite engaging and the content was really rich!

Every week, a specific aspect of thinking was explored with the leading intellectuals of the field and the assignments and tasks were designed to engage the students and the extra materials makes you explore stuff and ponder over your own thinking approaches.

I would recommend this course to anyone who'd want to understand the working of their own thinking and decision making. The great thing about this course is instead of pure theory, it revolves a lot around the application and practicality of the concepts so be it cognitive biases, memory functioning, evolution of beliefs systems, etc.

To summarize: An engaging and at the same time useful course for people of all ages and backgrounds.