COVID-19 has brought Senior traditions into question as the year moves forward, and for many 12th grade students, the coronavirus has forced a process of rethinking and reconstructing the Senior project.
For those sifting and sorting through the options, edX or Coursera might just be your savior. These databases contain thousands of online courses spanning every interest possible, and for students considering learning something new, or something they think they might have a passion for, these sites might be for you.
edX displays everything from “Tourism and Travel Management” to “Defining the String Quartet II: Beethoven” to “Origins of the Human Mind.” Many of these courses are created by foreign universities, some by companies and many by esteemed American universities, such as Harvard, Stanford, Yale, and many more. The length of these courses varies; however, many will fit within the 40-hour requirement.
Students will have the option on edX to choose self-paced classes with all the lectures already posted, and with many of these courses, there is additional practice included. While these are all free to audit, it does cost a fee to earn a certificate of completion, a charge that varies but typically costs $49.
Coursera provides a similar premise: the organization has partnered with accredited universities, companies, and organizations across the globe to provide free education. Some of the trending classes right now include “The Science of Well-Being” by Yale, “Machine Learning” by Stanford, and “Programming for Everybody” by the University of Michigan.
Students have a plethora of options between these two databases. For those interested in looking deeper, the links are listed below.
Caption: Seniors can learn something new through databases edX and Coursera- Wikimedia Commons
