The search for knowledge - MOOCs: Open knowledge and the Open-source world

in utopian-io •  7 years ago  (edited)

While living in the information age, I sometimes think about the ancients… and their infinite curiosity and passion for knowledge.

This post, in a way poetic, in another way informative… Is meant to encourage and to inspire, to motivate to explore those corners of human knowledge that are there, closer than we believe. The words from Carl Sagan and Bertrand Russell will help me to introduce and to illustrate that passion for knowledge.

I will start remembering some important words by Carl Sagan, about the importance of knowledge nowadays. As I said before, we are living in the information age, when science and technology advance every day at giant steps. But… We are also living in the era of illiteracy, and I would say that this new illiteracy is more dangerous that that one in the past, where simply meant that a person did not know how to write or read, I am talking about Scientific illiteracy, which, thanks to technology, can spread around the world in the blink of an eye, reaching the masses all over the planet. Sagan will help to clarify a little better this point:

We've arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements —transportation, communications, and all other industries; agriculture, medicine, education, entertainment, protecting the environment; and even the key democratic institution of voting— profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.
(The demon-haunted world, Chapter 2: Science and Hope)

Beinecke_Rare_Book_&_Manuscript_Library_ritebook.in-009.jpg

The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Image credit: Carlos García de la Noceda.

The search for knowledge, one of the three passions mentioned by Russell in his memorable speech (activity that is imprinted in human nature, the curiosity that has characterized our minds since the immemorial times of the caverns), has been exponentially enriched in the last decades after the arrival of the Internet. And, could the internet not be compared to that total library dreamt by Borges?

(...) he deduced that the Library is total and that its shelves register all the possible combinations of the twenty-odd orthographical symbols (a number which, though extremely vast, is not infinite), that is all that can be expressed: in all languages. Everything. (The library of Babel, Borges)


Internet, Open-source and Open Knowledge philosophy

That great library, called the internet, is one of the most important tools ever invented. Instant access to almost every aspect of human knowledge. As a faithful defender of free knowledge, it is exciting to participate and be part of a movement that every day gains more and more popularity and importance: "Information wants to be free”. The philosophy of OPEN-SOURCE and OPEN KNOWLEDGE go hand in hand in this aspect. The main objective of this post is to communicate about some great tools that play a big role in this movement. I am talking about the MOOCs, Massive Online Open Courses, which are very good examples of this philosophy. They websites offering them that I will mention below are Open-Source and as well, encourage the Free or Open Knowledge philosophy. There are also lot of courses about programming and open-sourcing, just give it a chance and go check them!... In them, the adaptation or evolution of traditional education is perceived, and, through videos, readings, evaluations and forums, the classroom now becomes the whole planet, with classmates distributed all around the globe.

Beinecke.jpg
The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Source.

I owe to Borges, to have approached me to a quote from Saint Augustine that I like to mention very often:

What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know.

I liked that phrase a lot, I started repeating it at every opportunity... One day, analyzing it, I had the following imagination: How intensely would Saint Augustine have asked itself that particular question? How much would he have wanted to know the nature of time? You and I, who were born and raised after Einstein times, contemporaries with quantum mechanics and string theories, can approach much more than he even got to suspect. After I realized that, I soon started the search for information... I found several MOOCs about the intimidating Einstein theories and proceeded to review them. To my great satisfaction, they were great, the teachers were great, and I was able to meet many people with exceptional and interesting ideas on that subjects that I loved.

Here are some of the courses I have been able to review and I widely recommend, along with some courses I plan to do soon, many of them oriented to programming:

Coursera

I met it thanks to a friend reference in 2012, at that time It had an offer of 4 courses only. They currently have a large number of partner universities and a huge amount of open courses. Many of the courses offered are on the field of programming and computer science. Very powerful tools right there! Here are one of the Here are some courses that I had the opportunity to do there:

Human Rights for Open Societies. Utrecht University

Cloud Computing Concepts, Part 1. University of Illinois

Introduction to philosophy. University of Edinburgh

Understanding Einstein: The Theory of Special Relativity. Stanford University

edX

Similar to coursera, edX was founded in 2012 by Harvard University and MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). After the most recent changes that have been made on the coursera page, edX became my new favorite learning platform. As I mentioned before, the topics are very varied, just enter and navigate a little, you will get impressed and will want to start at least 10 courses at once!

Introduction to Computer Science. Harvard University

Blockchain for Business - An Introduction to Hyperledger Technologies. The Linux foundation

Introduction to Data Wise: A Collaborative Process to Improve Learning & Teaching. Harvard University

Using Open Source Web Tooling to Improve Development Proficiency. Microsoft

Khan Academy

I decided to quote the full text that they exhibit on their page, as it attracts a lot of attention. I have not had the opportunity to explore its courses very much, but, I do have entered to study very specific topics. The design of the page is excellent and is very well structured.

Khan Academy offers practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard that empower learners to study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom. We tackle math, science, computer programming, history, art history, economics, and more. Our math missions guide learners from kindergarten to calculus using state-of-the-art, adaptive technology that identifies strengths and learning gaps. We've also partnered with institutions like NASA, The Museum of Modern Art, The California Academy of Sciences, and MIT to offer specialized content. Source


Of the courses I mentioned here, I only completed a few, however I can assure you that all of them were very, very interesting, from a very basic level to an advanced university level. If only I had the time... I would assure you that I would complete them all. Just explore the websites a little bit and you will see what I am talking about!


With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved. (Bertrand Russell)


D



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Thanks for the comment, I guess I misinterpreted the second rule... Indeed my post was not directly related to a project, and instead to the open-source and open-knowledge philosophy. My mistake, hope you enjoyed the reading though. Greetings and good vibes!

It was a great post. This rule has changed recently, and we have discussions about it but the current rule set forbids this kinf of contributions.

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