College can be exciting and stressful. The first year is one that helps students decide what major they want to declare. Sometimes students do not know what major is the right choice for them. The time it takes to figure out what areas of study interest them can add up, both in wasted time and in dollars. 

In comes Coursera. Coursera is an online school that offers students a chance to take a wide variety of classes for free. The courses are taught by professors from around the world and also from big universities, including Princeton University and Stanford University and last about 6-8 weeks.

Students who complete the courses will often receive a “statement of accomplishment” that is signed by the professor. The information garnered from these classes may just give an edge to a student applying for colleges in the future.

According to their website, www.cousera.org, “Coursera empowers people to improve their lives, the lives of their families, and the communities they live in with education.”

Coursera is truly a worldwide phenomenon, as people from all over the globe are able to take high level classes.

Current Coursera student Jefferson Bien-Aimé from Haiti studied Electronics Engineering at the State University of Haiti before going for a Master in Database and System Integration at the University of Sophia Antipolis at Nice, in France.

Aimé came across Coursera when a friend told him about the school. “I saw it was very interesting and I fell in love with it.”

“I take a lot of classes from Coursera, most of them are related to Business Management, Economics and Finance because I wanted to have knowledge that could help me manage the company I wanted to build,” said Aimé.

For example, a couple of the classes that Coursera offers are:

Epigenetic Control of Gene Expression, offered from the University of Melbourne. The course covers “the principles of epigenetic control of gene expression, how epigenetic control contributes to cellular differentiation and development, and how it goes wrong in disease.” This course starts on April 28 and lasts 8 weeks.

Software Defined Networking offered from the Georgia Institute of Technology. In this course, you will “learn about software defined networking and how it is changing the way communications networks are managed, maintained, and secured.” This class starts on May 26 and lasts 8 weeks.

Almost everyone who is a part of the Coursera infrastructure has a blog, Twitter and/or Facebook page. This is a part of bringing the school to life. Leadership, partners, students and developers are some of the people who can be read about to get more familiar with the program.

Once you make a free account, you can enroll in classes, for free. Each course is clearly defined and even has information detailing who your professor will be. Some of the professors give links to their blogs or the schools they teach at other universities.

Coursera offers a great experience. No matter if you are a student, professor or a person who hasn’t took a class in a long time, Coursera may just be the best option for you to help bolster your educational career.

“What I like about Coursera is the philosophy behind it. Education is a free right and people must have it free. Coursera made available classes that would cost me a lot of money to attend,” said Aimé.

Students, professors or lifelong learners who would like to learn more information about Coursera, check out the school’s webpage at www.coursera.org/.