Coursera Learning Platform

I completed a 5 Course specialization, Web Design for Everybody, taught by Professor Colleen Van Lent of the University of Michigan featured on the Coursera learning platform.

Online courses can be challenging for a host of reasons.  Learners frequently cite the lack of direct interaction with peers and or professor/ teaching staff as an online learning obstacle.     Coursera does an excellent job encouraging group participation in classes, courses, specializations; providing online discussion community groups of peer students, mentors and teaching staff.   Colleen Van Lent is a great teacher.  I base this on observations of her rapport with the existing University of Michigan students and the care and concern she demonstrates for her online students.

Coursera courses provide one the learning opportunity of watching the teacher’s lectures/lessons more than one time, stop at junctures to take notes, providing a transcript below each lesson video.  Dr. Van Lent’s video lessons demonstrate a teacher who loves the subject matter and relishes the opportunity to share her passion with others.

Most professors like Dr. Van Lent conduct office hours via YouTube.

Here is a list of the Coursera University partners.   

I have personally taken over 23 Coursera Classes online, 6 with the University of Michigan, one of Coursera’s flagship University partners.

Learning is lifelong. It has always been the case that most learning occurs outside of the classroom.   The world is rapidly changing and old skills in almost any field require supplemental training and or education. Experience is critical but we all need to brush up on our technical skills to stay current with workplace needs.

Mark Cuban indicated 5 years ago all computer science majors would be better off majoring in a Liberal Arts field for 4 years of undergraduate and utilizing up to date Computer Science (including AI and Data Science) courses and certificates online. Think of the growing field for UX and UI specialists.  The UX/UI appropriate undergraduate field of study would be Psychology and social sciences/English. Some readers remember the days of a “broad-based Liberal Arts education in your first 2-4 years of college with field specializations in postgraduate Masters or Doctoral studies”  When did the University model change?

 

Motivated to provide a role model for future generations of women in STEM, Dr. Colleen van Lent discusses what inspired her to teach and the importance of teaching technology to empower global learners and workers around the world. She developed the Web Design for Everybody (Basics of Web Development and Coding) Specialization through the University of Michigan’s Office of Digital Education & Innovation (DEI) to provide learners with foundational skills to create a responsive and accessible web design. To enroll in the Web Design for Everybody Specialization:

Learner using a tablet with copy that reads
Coursera Plus Banner Image

Colleen Van Lent, PHD

Colleen Van Lent, PHD

Lecturer

Dr. Colleen van Lent is a Teaching Professor and Lecturer IV at the University of Michigan School of Information, where she teaches various technology-oriented courses including introductory programming and Web development. Colleen’s previous jobs include Associate Professor at California State University and positions at NASA JPL, the Naval Research Lab, and the NSA. She received her BS from Kent State University Honors College in Computer Science, and an MS and PhD from the University of Pittsburgh, also in Computer Science. Her thesis was on Artificial Intelligence applications on the Nursebot Project, a robotic assistant for the elderly. Her honors include being chosen as a National Physical Sciences Consortium Fellow and a NASA Faculty Fellow. Colleen has always emphasized the idea of technology for everybody. To that end she has worked creating courses for education majors to learn robotics, as well other CS curriculum for non-majors. She enjoys working with elementary and middle school students to learn problem-solving, coding, and design. She has published eight children’s books on HTML and Scratch programming.

Coursera Plus banner featuring three learners on a blue background.
Coursera learner on his laptop featuring 14-day money-back guarantee