Udacity

Udacity is a private online academy, which was founded in 2012 by Sebastian Thrun, Mike Sokolsky and David Stavens to make lectures and examinations on the same site available for free. Basis were computer science lectures from 2011 at Stanford University. From February to April 2012, two courses were available, which were followed by a total of 90,000 participants worldwide. In addition Udacity offers a job board to provide graduates with employers. The language of instruction is English. In November, 2013, Thrun announced that Udacity a " lousy product " and that the online platform its corporate strategy in the form of changes that they will do in the future instead of their focus on science subjects more on vocational training.

Operation

The ever-growing range of courses mainly consists of courses on topics related to computer science and programming, but also to courses from other disciplines (such as physics, mathematics, business administration and psychology) has been extended now. The courses are designed for a period of about seven weeks, but can usually be freely edited, so students can use the range at your own pace. The lessons consist of numerous short videos, which are interrupted by comprehension tests. The tests are designed as a quiz or include tasks to be programmed or dissolved in the Python programming language. The comprehension tests are checked immediately and automatically and possible answers then explained via video. Each week unit ends with a homework part. The last week of the course ends with the " Final Exam ", which works like a homework part, but extends thematically throughout the entire course content. After passing the final exam is a certificate for download. Questions about the course can be discussed in a discussion forum with caregivers or other participants.

Courses

The first courses were offered:

  • CS101 - Intro to Computer Science: Building a Search Engine (German: Creation of a search engine) by David Evans
  • CS373 - Artificial Intelligence: Programming a Robotic Car ( German: Programming of a self-driving cars ) by Sebastian Thrun and Shayan Doroudi

In April 2012, were added:

  • CS212 - Design of Computer Programs: Programming Principles - by Peter Norvig and Shayan Doroudi
  • CS253 - Web Application Engineering: How to build a blog - by Steve Huffman ( reddit founder )
  • CS262 - Programming Languages ​​: Building a web browser - Westley Weimer of
  • CS387 - Applied Cryptography: Science of Secrets - by David Evans and Shayan Doroudi

As of June 25

  • CS215 - Algorithms: Crunching Social Networks - by Michael Littman and job Evers
  • CS258 - Software Testing: How to Make Software Fail - By John Regehr and Sean Bennett
  • PH100 ​​- Intro to Physics: Landmarks in Physics - Andy Brown and Jonathan Burket
  • ST101 - Introduction to Statistics: Making Decisions Based on Data - Sebastian Thrun and from Adam Sherwin

As of September 3, 2012

  • CS222 - Making Math Matter: Differential Equations in Action - by Jörn Loviscach and Miriam Swords lime
  • CS259 - Software Debugging: Automating the Boring Tasks - by Andreas Zeller and Gundega Dekena

As of October 1, 2012

  • CS313 - Intro to Theoretical Computer Science: Dealing with Challenging Problems - Sebastian Wernicke and Sarah Norell

The first digit of the course number indicates the level of difficulty: 1 - Beginning, 2 - Intermediate 3 -Advanced.

What the media says

Udacity was shortly after the founding of that reporting, particularly in the United States of America, where higher education can be very expensive: Tuition fees at the University of California, for example, was in the year academic 2011/2012 for locals $ 13,200.

Udacity was called " Initiative of the Year 2012" awarded the prize of the computer magazine Chip.

Chip (magazine)
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