Info on coursera?

[Insert Name]

I’m looking at Coursera. Between google, looking/searching info on this forum, and poking around their website, I THINK I understand a little bit about it, but I have questions. Please feel free to correct my understanding. Is it basically a spot for school to offer courses, which can be anything from informational to credit/degree giving? If so, I have some other questions:

-How do credits work? 
-How do you figure out which ones give credits?
-If you take courses at give credits, how do you transfer them?

Beyond help navigating/understanding their site, does anyone know anything about these classes specifically? https://www.coursera.org/ualberta 

As always, thanks in advance.

[rachel83az]

Coursera courses do NOT give you credits. Depending on your chosen school, you MAY be able to parlay Coursera certificates into PLA credits, but it's usually not worth it.

The only exceptions to the no credits rule is the certificates offered by Google that have been reviewed for ACE credit. Once you've completed these courses, you'll be given a link to add the certificate to your ACE (Credly) transcript.

[Insert Name]

So it’s just the google certificate that’s worth credits? So, what’s the draw for coursera? Just info classes?

[rachel83az]

Mainly personal growth. Some employers might look favorably on certain certificates. Also, it can be a free/cheap way to study a topic that you've been struggling with so that you can pass a more expensive class at an actual university.

[Vle045]

You can get credits, but, you would apply to the school offering the credit. The costs would be similar to what you might pay for credits elsewhere. And you would have to apply to the program and be accepted. Those courses are typically not available through Coursera plus or for audit. This is an example of one. https://www.coursera.org/degrees/unt-onl...completion

You can sign up for a specialization that you can add to your resume or LinkedIn if it seems like it would be beneficial. Those are usually included in Coursera Plus or they have a monthly fee until you finish. They are not for credit. These courses are usually also available to audit for free which means you can watch everything, but no tests or certificate of completion. Here’s an example. https://www.coursera.org/specializations/leading-teams

There’s also guided projects, professional certificates and single course options.

I signed up for Coursera plus this year. I’m hoping to finish at least a few of the specializations and Google certificates

[Insert Name]

Thank you both. I’m wondering if my son (14yo, has wanted to be a paleontologist since he was 3 and still reads about it constantly) might want to do these Dino classes, even if just for a certificate? I wish more of these classes had credits behind them, but it may still be fun.

[rachel83az]

If nothing else, it might help him decide whether he wants to continue on into that career later. There is a huge difference between being enthusiastic about a subject and being "forced" to learn about it in an academic setting.

[carrythenothing]

The Dino 101 class should be free through Coursera for Students if your son has a college/university email address.

[Kal Di]

The best value of Coursera is the specializations and professional certificates. Specializations and professional certificates are great for people who want to obtain skills from courses that are complementary to their existing field or enter a new field with minimal education.

Some guided projects and course certificates could be helpful in getting a job, but they need to be in addition to other qualifications.

Coursera does offer college degrees, but it is not the most affordable option.

Coursera Plus is a great value, but it is not intended to replace the need for a college degree. In some cases, it can depending on the job. However, it is for people who want to add complementary skills to their resume or enter a new field with minimal specialized education.

[Seraphgrim]

Regarding the cost of these classes, as of Jan - Mar 2021 when both myself and my wife were taking classes on Coursera, Coursera provides financial assistance on most (all?) classes on their catalog. Choose to apply for financial aid and fill out a little application consisting mostly of why you'd like financial aid and how this will help you out, and Coursera seems to automatically approve your application - two weeks later. If you plan accordingly, it seems like you can get all of your classes on Coursera for free, and I've used this to get my IT Support Professional Certification for free myself. There are a couple things to note here, however. First, if you initiate a free trial of a class, it cancels your financial aid application, making this an either/or kind of situation. Second, you have to apply for each individual course independently, so applying for the first class in the IT Support Professional certification isn't enough, it only gets you the one course - you have to apply for classes two, three, four, and five as well. Note that you can have up to 11 or 12 "current" or applied-for classes, so you can apply for financial aid to a batch of classes rather than having to wait two weeks between each one. I can also tell you that they don't hold it against you if you copy and paste your application answers between every class.
Note that the financial aid process isn't unique to the Google classes which are the primary focus here. This seems to be doable with almost any class on Coursera - University of Michigan's Python for Everyone classes, University of Colorado's Agile Leadership classes, and others have been confirmed to work the same way. In each case, Coursera seems to automatically approve financial aid applications after making you wait for two weeks.

As for their use in a degree - the Google IT Support Pro certificate wasn't worth it to me - I would've been much better off grabbing a basic "Introduction to IT" class somewhere instead, in terms of time spent. That said, if you see a class on Coursera and you're like "that's neat, I want to check that out", just go apply to it and check it out. It costs you nothing, though they do ask you to commit to finishing the class.