Credit hours for massive open online courses (MOOCs) may not be easy to come by, but a growing number of these online classes are still offering proof of completion to participants.
Coursera, one of the leading online education foundations, offers an extensive array of classes to the public at no cost, and thus far they have partnered with 33 big-name higher education institutions to supply those courses. Right now, none of the classes count for on-campus credit but many come with a certificate of completion.
Education Dive read through the Coursera catalog and found these 10 interesting classes that provide certificates to everyone completes class requirements:
1. A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO IRRATIONAL BEHAVIOR
School: Duke University
Instructor: Dan Ariely
Based on the instructor's own research, this course addresses the idea of behavior economics and analyzes case studies where consumers, investors and manufacturers act in ways that contradict standard economic theories. It explores how emotions, irrational thoughts, expectations, perceptions and plain dishonesty come to affect the supposedly rational decision-making processes of economics.
2. CRYPTOGRAPHY
School: Stanford University
Instructor: Dan Boneh
This course studies the field of computer encryption. Students begin the course by learning the weaknesses and strengths of existing low-level algorithms and, by the end of the course, are introduced to unsolved dilemmas in cryptography. The course will teach you how to understand the mechanisms of various encryption codes and use them for yourself.
3. FUNDAMENTALS OF PERSONAL FINANCE PLANNING
School: University of California
Instructor: Don DeBok
Having trouble with your finances? Look no further. This class from Coursera schools you on how to better manage your money and understand the decision-making processes involved in short and long-term financial planning.
4. THE MODERN AND THE POSTMODERN
School: Wesleyan University
Instructor: Michael S. Roth
Incorporating elements of philosophy, literature and critical theory, this course examines the enigmatic notions of modernism and post-modernism. The class surveys cultural change through texts and the contexts they originated from. In short, it tries to answer that fundamental question: What is hip?
5. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE PLANNING
School: University of Edinburgh
Instructor: Gerhard Wickler and Austin Tate
Always wanted to build your own robot? Here's your chance. Learn the basics of artificial intelligence planning systems, the obstacles to navigate, the approaches available and the concepts underlying it all.
6. GAME THEORY
School: Stanford University
Instructors: Matthew O. Jackson and Yoav Shoham
This class tackles the analysis of interactive decision-making. For example, take the relatively simple game of Risk. To understand the game, you have to track the decisions of each player in relation to the actions of the other players. Now, extrapolate this premise to the real world. That's "Game Theory."
7. MACHINE LEARNING
School: Stanford University
Instructor: Andrew Ng
What starts out as a lesson on the theory behind machine learning ends up as a hands-on implementation of what you've learned. Machine learning, if you're not sure, is the subset of artificial intelligence that allows machines to quantify existing trends using pattern-recognition systems and develop their decision-making processes as result of this knowledge.
8. THINK AGAIN: HOW TO REASON AND ARGUE
School: Duke University
Instructor: Walter Sinnott-Armstrong and Ram Neta
This course will teach you how to deconstruct arguments to their bare bones. You will be able to pinpoint the assumptions on which arguments are built and learn strategies to construct better ones for yourself. You'll never lose another argument to your significant other ever again. Unless they've already taken this class.
9. SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS
School: University of Michigan
Instructor: Lada Adamic
In the past decade, social media has come to connect the whole world with just a couple clicks on a computer screen. This class examines their sudden rise, the foundations on which they are built and the emerging patterns of their popularity and utility. Learn how networks are changing how information spreads, how we interact with each other and what the future is going to look like.
10. LEARN TO PROGRAM: CRAFTING QUALITY CODE
School: University of Toronto
Instructor: Jennifer Campbell and Paul Gries
Is your code not good enough? Do you want to understand what you're doing with clarity and precision? Well, then, this class is for you. If you think you have what it takes, enroll in this course and learn to write accessible and efficient high-level codes. Go beyond the basics and find out what's going on under the hood.
Want to see more education news and resources like this in your inbox on a daily basis? Subscribe to the Education Dive email newsletter! You may also want to read our "10 opinions on MOOCs" list.