Re: free courses offered by Major US universities
I’m 2 weeks into my 10 weeks long course. Love everything so far. Days before the course begins, they send you a reminder email. The instructor him/herself sends you a welcome email. The day before the new lecture date, they email you again. So as far as communication goes, they’re great.
Registration was super easy. Course content is excellent so far. You can watch the video lectures whenever you want, as many time as you want, pause and replay certain bits if you’re confused. They’re only 30 minutes long so its easy to keep up with it and not be distracted.
There are course forums where you can engage with other students of the course and ask questions. I haven’t posted there yet but I’m sure the instructor keeps in touch on the forums as well.
Their FAQ section states they’ll post us a certificate on the successful completion of the course. It doesn’t say anything about paying money to get the certificate. Dunno, may be later they’ll ask for a fee but right now there’s no mention of it on their website.
They release a new lecture every week so you have plenty of time to catch up. They also release some assessment questions with the lectures. You get 3 attempts to get as many questions right as you can. So far I’ve gotten all right in the first attempt so they aren’t tough at all. But the second quiz was slightly more tricky and had more questions than the first one so may be they get tougher as the course proceeds.
In short, very pleased with everything. Can’t really think of anything to complain about.