This week, I finished my first paid specialist series from Coursera. It is Applied Data Science with Python by University of Michigan.
I have been learning this on Coursera for months. Previously I learn from edX. They are both great resources. When I was considering which one to pay for, edX or Coursera, their different pricing and schedule model was my key decision.
edX is like traditional university model that they charge for the whole series, average 5 courses in total, a lump sum.
Take the data science MicroMaster as example, they charge $300 for a course and total $1000+ for the series.
The course schedule is either spring or fall. Since this is a series of 5 courses. I can’t take them all at once. And if I missed any one of them, I will need to wait for half a year to start the next course.
In contrast, Coursera also provides series of courses called Specialist. They are paid monthly for a specific series. As long as I haven’t completed all five courses, I pay for the monthly price. And once I finished it, my subscription to that series ends.
The specialist series charges for $49 per month and I took 6 months to finish it. That is around $300 for the whole series of 5 courses. Of course, the title “MicroMaster” from edX looks more promising than the word “Specialist” from Coursera.
I had July and August paused learning for the worldskills competition although the subscription has to be continued.
Both edX and Coursera also provides higher level courses such as courses that count towards university credits or even full online master degree. I may consider one of them in the future as well.
Now I subscribe to another course: learning how to learn. It is a very fun course material with neuroscientists telling how to optimize our habit and brain usage to learn better. I'm still in week 2 of the course and not completed yet, but the week 1 material is already with recommending.
https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn/
Link worth sharing
This week, most links I found are news, from Adobe, Apple and DuckDuckGo.
Are There Random Numbers in CSS?
https://css-tricks.com/are-there-random-numbers-in-css/
An interesting experiment to create randomness experience with pure CSS only.
New CSS for Styling Underlines on the Web
Now we have text-underline-offset, text-decoration-thickness and text-decoration-skip-ink. In addition, we have wavy decoration now with text-decoration-style: wavy;
Adobe released Photoshop for iPad
https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/ipad.html
Photoshop on iPad receives quite terrible reviews so far.
https://petapixel.com/2019/11/09/photoshop-for-ipad-is-getting-terrible-early-reviews/
Adobe chief defends Photoshop for iPad following poor reviews
https://www.cultofmac.com/664332/adobe-chief-defends-photoshop-ipad-poor-reviews/
Belsky explains Adobe made the decision to nail some fundamentals, like “perfect PSD support” and a user interface that works on a tablet, before tackling other things.
Adobe had no intention of porting a desktop app — with all its “baggage” — straight to iPad, he adds.
Apple updates privacy page
https://www.apple.com/privacy/
And if you care, please also check the privacy features page as well.
https://www.apple.com/privacy/features/
DuckDuckGo Privacy Essential for Safari is back
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/duckduckgo-privacy-essentials/id1482920575
Quote worth sharing
“You don’t get it by wishing”—Nike
This quote is now wallpaper on my phone.
Until next week,
Makzan