Online Education: Coursera

Online education has truly taken a new form lately with the development of Coursera. Coursera is an online education portal but it has a unique feature that makes it stand out from the plethora of other portals. Coursera is free. Not only is it free but the classes offered are administered by professors at accredited universities. The first class to catch my eye was 'Gamification'.

"Gamification is the application of game elements and digital game design techniques to non-game problems, such as business and social impact challenges. This course will teach you the mechanisms of gamification, why it has such tremendous potential, and how to use it effectively."  

This class sounds fun and progressive but not quite so serious until you realize it is given by Kevin Werbach, an Associate Professor at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Classes are offered in many of the traditional fields and range in specificity from 'Intro to Microeconomics' to 'Game Theory'.

Class materials are provided online with focus on video lectures, freely available readings, and exercises utilizing open-source software. Class duration ranges from 4-12 weeks weekly units and some offering live quiz sessions.

Most classes provide some sort of acknowledgement of completion. These range from letters of completion from the administering University, professor, or directly through Coursera. These acknowledgements are not the same as University credits and the accreditation space is unclear at best, but Coursera is perfect for individuals thirsty for knowledge and skills who are not so worried about degree credits.

This Investment Adviser Representative is looking forward to taking four classes in January through Coursera.

1. Computing for Data Analysis
2. Game Theory
3. Gamification
4. Building an Information Risk Management Toolkit

It is important, especially as an investment professional, to be exposed to new ideas and skills. All those who possess or are in the process of industry certifications are already accustomed to the online learning model. Why not take advantage of that model outside of the traditionally provided avenues.


Erik Hughes is an Investment Adviser Representative for Halvorson Research Associates, LLC
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