Coursera – The Learner’s Paradise

Written By Rehan Ahmed (Grade 10)

Have you ever wanted to learn more about the concepts you love? Or maybe just explore the world more deeply? Then this article is just for you. Read on.

If you ask someone about their favourite apps, they would probably have a bunch of them. In this digitalised world, where almost everything goes online, it is a bit difficult task to mention just one favourite app. However, I, being a student, will today introduce you to an educational app called Coursera. And of course, it is one of my personal favourites!

Coursera is an online learning platform that allows anyone to learn anything they want, anywhere and at any time. I came to know about the app through an e-mail from an organisation that sponsored my learning on Coursera. I quickly downloaded the app, started my learning and unknow to myself, fell in love with the app. I love the app because it is user-friendly and has loads of content, which I can access online or offline. It has a wide range of courses ranging from small guided projects to long-term online degrees with certification from prestigious universities. You can select from a wide range of categories, including, but not limited to:

• Arts and Humanities
• Business
• Computer Science
• Data Science
• Information Technology
• Health
• Math and Logic
• Personal Development
• Physical Science and Engineering
• Social Sciences
• Language Learning

Literally, you can learn anything here. Coursera also provides access to many professional certificates and online degrees and master degrees from top universities around the world which help you to boost your skills and get your resume upgraded. Everyone, including higher primary, high school or undergraduate students, people who are unemployed and looking for work, people who are employed and want to upgrade their skills, people who want to learn something new to boost their knowledge and understanding can join Coursera.

The instructors from various organisations and universities who guide us throughout the courses are highly experienced and knowledgeable. At the end of each concept-based video, you find various quizzes, practice tests and various types of other interactive assignments to help you know your areas of strength and weakness. The deadlines to complete the assignments are also flexible. If you aren’t able to complete an assignment within the deadline due to some reason, you can reset the deadline and resume your learning. Almost after every theoretical class, there will be a project, working on which, you can know the real-world applications of the concepts you have learned. For each course, there is a separate discussion forum where you can interact with peers, share your thoughts and clarify your doubts. After the completion of each course, you receive a sharable certificate of completion signed by the course instructor.

Many of the courses available on Coursera are almost affordable. There is also an option to audit the course if you can’t afford it. You can even apply for financial aid if you want to or enrol yourself into the free courses that

Coursera provides. Many learning and scholarship programs also provide free access to specific Coursera courses.

The app is fully user friendly. It has a great user interface and experience. It is fully compatible with almost all types of devices. In other words, it is cross-platform friendly. It keeps your progress synced across all the devices you are signed into. The courses can be downloaded and accessed offline, without the internet. You can even access the courses on Coursera’s official website. By subscribing to Coursera’s newsletter, you can receive periodic notifications which include course recommendations, your app usage statistics and overall learning progress. It also periodically reminds you through in-app notifications to complete the courses you are enrolled on.

Education unlike any other thing should be excellent both in terms of quality and quantity for everyone across the world. And Coursera is where education is better described in that way.

Featured Image Courtesy – Unsplash