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From Poverty to Prosperity: Understanding Economic Development
Course reviewed 6 years ago
I didn't expect to stick with this course - I'm not particularly interested in what I thought "economics" meant - but I was curious to see what Oxfor…
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Causal Diagrams: Draw Your Assumptions Before Your Conclusions
Course reviewed 6 years ago
I had no idea what this was when I signed up, but the teaser vid was interesting so thought I'd take a quick peek. I finished the course with a surpr…
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International Humanitarian Law
Course reviewed 6 years ago
Fascinating but hard; prepare to do some intense reading and get ready to make some very fine distinctions between subtle points. I have no backgroun…
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The Architectural Imagination
Course reviewed 6 years ago
I loved this course - I've never really understood what the term "architecture" means beyond making a building that won't fall down, and here I got so…
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Chinese Thought: Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Science - Part 1
Course reviewed 6 years ago
I loved this course. I'd done some previous work on Chinese philosophy, but from a very different perspective. Here, the idea was to look at the phil…
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International Law
Course reviewed 6 years ago
Excellent course, but be prepared to do a lot of intense, detailed legal reading and weighing of very fine distinctions. Don't be discouraged by low …
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Humanity and Nature in Chinese Thought | 中国哲学思想中的人类与自然观
Course reviewed 6 years ago
I began to truly appreciate Chinese philosophy in this course. The lectures are wonderful, and informative, the staff was very responsive to question…
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First Nights - Handel's Messiah and Baroque Oratorio
Course reviewed 6 years ago
I loved this course - I just happened to see it mentioned on Twitter, a few weeks before Christmas, and it made me very happy at a time when there was…
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Principles of Biochemistry
Course reviewed 6 years ago
Excellent course, but grueling - it's long, it covers a huge swath of material, and it's not easy for someone, like me, with a limited background in c…
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The Great War and Modern Philosophy
Course reviewed 6 years ago
I had mixed feelings about this mooc. On the plus side, I discovered many philosophers - and artists/writers - new to me, and began to better understa…
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A Global History of Architecture
Course reviewed 6 years ago
The content of this course was fantastic: it greatly expanded my understanding of humanity, of history, and of the meaning of architecture and how so …
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Respiration in the Human Body
Course reviewed 6 years ago
Very good examination of the process of respiration, from anatomy to the physics of air exchange and the effects of altitude, disease, and other facto…
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Design Theory
Course reviewed 6 years ago
Excellent course. I don't come from a design/art background - in fact, I'm one of those "I don't know anything about art but I know what I like" peopl…
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Introduction to Kabbalah
Course reviewed 6 years ago
Great class for anyone curious about what Kabbalah is, but not particularly interested in actual practice. The course covers the most common theo-phil…
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Cell Biology: Mitochondria
Course reviewed 6 years ago
"Beautiful" is the best way to describe this course; the animations are sensational. And, surprise, they're helpful to understanding what's going on a…
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Introduction to the Quran: The Scripture of Islam
Course reviewed 6 years ago
Great course about complex material. This was my first serious look at the Quran, and I found it informative and helpful. I was surprised by some of …
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Viruses & How to Beat Them: Cells, Immunity, Vaccines
Course reviewed 6 years ago
Engaging introductory bio course. Moves from a few chemistry basics to a little cell biology before delving into viruses, the immune system, and vacci…
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Shakespeare Matters
Course reviewed 6 years ago
I greatly enjoyed this course and found it surprisingly enlightening. It focuses on the context and emotional character of two speeches per play. Lots…
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Arab-Islamic History: From Tribes to Empires
Course reviewed 6 years ago
Very good course, with a nice balance between historic events (rulers, battles, invasions) and cultural background (art, religion, ethnicity, values a…
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Global History of Capitalism
Course reviewed 6 years ago
I have very little background in economics, so I took the course to understand some of the basic concepts and vocabulary. They tried a different appro…
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The Medieval Icelandic Sagas
Course reviewed 6 years ago
I greatly enjoyed this course. Since I knew nothing about Iceland or Norse literature going in, the first week left me a bit overwhelmed, but I caught…
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Anatomy of the Chest, Neck, Abdomen, and Pelvis
Course reviewed 6 years ago
Detailed, no-nonsense anatomy course, including lectures with drawn diagrams, videos of endoscopic and laparoscopic procedures, and cadaveric dissecti…
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Human Rights Theory and Philosophy (T2 2019)
Course reviewed 6 years ago
This mooc follows a very academic/grad school model: lecture plus readings, with two peer-assessed essays (verified students get instructor grading) a…
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Fat Chance: Probability from the Ground Up
Course reviewed 6 years ago
I loved this course - it was at exactly the level I needed. I particularly iiked the "office hours" feature : a video for each Practice Exercise, givi…
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Oriental Beliefs: Between Reason and Traditions
Course reviewed 6 years ago
Enjoyable survey course, covering a broad range of interesting topics with a couple of deeper dives towards the end. It's arranged by topic - gods, an…
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The Tabernacle in Word & Image: An Italian Jewish Manuscript Revealed
Course reviewed 6 years ago
Terrific! This isn't so much a course as it is a single 90-minute lecture on what historians can learn from a pair of manuscripts describing the Templ…
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18th-Century Opera: Handel & Mozart
Course reviewed 6 years ago
Another charming, informative and engaging entry in Prof. Kelly’s First Night series. No musical knowledge is needed; although some details of music c…
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The Book of Kells: Exploring an Irish Medieval Masterpiece
Course reviewed 6 years ago
Nice introductory course combining elements of Irish history and culture. There's a (very brief) summary of manuscript production techniques, and a wo…
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Shakespeare’s Othello: The Moor
Course reviewed 5 years ago
Good course, but if you’re looking for a scene-by-scene explanation of the play, you might be better off with the Wellesley or Adelaide moocs. Here, w…
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Japanese Books: From Manuscript to Print
Course reviewed 4 years ago
A good, if brief, introduction to various forms of Japanese scrolls, manuscripts, and printed books via a selection of representative works from the H…
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Biochemistry: Biomolecules, Methods, and Mechanisms
Course reviewed 4 years ago
MIT’s biology department emphasis is always on the lab approach. That is, they go through a pathway or a process in detail, give you a couple of gener…
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Understanding Plants - Part I: What a Plant Knows
Course reviewed 4 years ago
I discovered this mooc while reading Chamovitz' book of the same title at the recommendation of a Twitter friend. I’ve lived a relatively plant-oblivi…
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World Music: Balinese Rhythms
Course reviewed 4 years ago
What, you never heard of Balinese gamelan music? Yeah, neither had I, and I’m still trying to process that MIT has a music department – and a music de…
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Cell Biology: Transport and Signaling
Course reviewed 4 years ago
Like all of the MIT biology courses, this one focuses on the laboratory: not just, how does a newly-made protein go from the ER to the Golgi to a vesi…
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The Path to Happiness: What Chinese Philosophy Teaches us about the Good Life
Course reviewed 4 years ago
I'm a big fan of ancient Chinese philosophy, and a big fan fo Michael Puett; I'm not so big a fan of self-help activities. But on balance I greatly en…
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General Chemistry I: Atoms, Molecules, and Bonding
Course reviewed 3 years ago
Excellent course, maybe not the best choice for a first chemistry class but there is some review.
Here, the mathy stuff – about half the…
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Cell Biology: The Cytoskeleton and Cell Cycle
Course reviewed 3 years ago
Another great course in MIT's bio series.
Primarily the course covers various signaling pathways: G-proteins, which send second messenge…
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Chemical Biology
Course reviewed 3 years ago
I knew from the start this would be over my head, and boy, it sure was. But that’s one of the benefits of moocs: you can take a class that’s a little …
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Introduction to Korean Philosophy and Culture
Course reviewed 3 years ago
A four-week course can only cover so much, of course, but I’m surprised at how much was included from history, language, and philosophy. The course wa…
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Shakespeare's Language: Revealing Meanings and Exploring Myths
Course reviewed 3 years ago
This linguistics-based examination of Shakespeare's works was a great complement to more traditional approaches to his plays. After looking at the lan…
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Stylistics: Using Linguistics to Explore Texts and Meaning
Course reviewed 3 years ago
Good introductory course for those wanting to better understand how certain ways of writing affect meaning, and how to recognize these techniques when…
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Cell Biology: Cell-Cell Interactions
Course reviewed 2 years ago
This was a great way to end MIT's Cell Bio series. While proteins, receptors, and the like are still important, the context is more familiar than inne…
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The Tudors
Course reviewed a year ago
Good class; blends the history with a look at art and architecture of the period, and with depictions of the major personages in later drama, art, and…
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