edX

My therapist suggested a wonderful idea to me.  She was surprised at herself that she didn't think of it sooner.  See, I'm in a sticky situation with having to stay where I'm at for insurance purposes and being in the middle of surgeries and recovery still and wanting to go back to school to get my doctorate because no accredited schools offer online courses.  So I'm stuck in this situation.  Many have suggested to me to just take some online courses to have something to do but that's an expensive side project.  Well, there's a solution:  edX

EdX is absolutely 100% free online schooling from some of the best schools in the nation: Harvard, Berkeley, MIT, etc.  You can take a class with thousands of students from all over the world and interact with them.  Classes are fun but they are also very rigorous.  This is no cake walk.  But you get higher education and you learn from the best.  You also make friends from all over the world.  Registration takes seconds and as soon as you've registered, you just go through all the different courses and pick.  Some courses take 12 weeks, some 16, some 17, etc. and there may be prerequisites for some courses.  But for the most part, there are none.  It is all self-paced learning.  It's on your time and accessible 24/7.  At the end of the course, if you pass, you receive a certificate of mastery in the subject you took and in some jobs, that certificate from an edX program is better than a Masters degree.  Yes, seriously.  You may say, there's no such thing as a free lunch.  Well, let me assure you, this is a free lunch. This is all about the students and learning.  I'm not being naive about this.  I have looked through the website and have a first hand account of someone who has gone through an edX course.  There are no smoke screens.  It's the real deal.  The president of edX was even featured on the Colbert Report.  You can see that interview HERE.  Also you can learn more about edX from their website by going HERE.

So, I think I'm going to get involved in this for three reasons: 1) to give me something to do, 2) Work my brain because if you don't use it, you lose it and 3) It could help me with scholarships and getting admitted into a doctorate program later.  I've already picked out my first course: Fundamentals of Neuroscience Part 1 from Harvardx.  It's a three part course but you don't have to take all three.  You take what you want.  But unfortunately it doesn't start until October so I have to wait.  There are so many other classes I want to take but the courses are going to be challenging so I don't think it's wise to take more than one at a time right now until I know more of what to expect.  I'm really looking forward to this.