I applied to join the online course at Stanford University that I discused in my previous post, and got a response…
Dear Networking student,
We are delighted to announce the start of Week 1 of the 6 week free public online class “An Introduction to Computer Networks”. If you visit the class website you will find 13 videos to watch this week. Each video is 15-20minutes long. Altogether, the first week’s material is just over three hours, which is about the same time a Stanford student spends in class for a course each week.
If this first week time commitment seems daunting, consider that in just three hours you’ll have learned the basic principles of networking in addition to a high level understanding of how the Internet works! Because this first week is more descriptive than problem-oriented, the material should be very accessible. As the subject matter becomes more detailed in future weeks, the number of videos will go down but they will have more challenging problems.
So go ahead and start watching this week’s videos – we hope you enjoy them.
We would like to know a bit more about you before you begin the class to help us measure how effective the class is. It would really help us if you could complete this survey before the class starts. Don’t worry if you don’t know the answer to some of the questions — we know that many of you won’t be able to answer some of the questions. The questions help us calibrate where we are all starting from. The survey is available by clicking here.
We are overwhelmed by the tens of thousands of you who have signed up for the class. It’s going to be a very exciting six weeks for all of us. Hang in there and keep up with the videos and exercises every week. Set aside some time in your schedule each day to watch a couple of the videos. For example, first thing in the morning before you go to to work or school, or before you take the kids to school. We promise that if you put the time in now it will pay off handsomely as you become familiar with the basic principles and ideas of networking and the Internet.
The videos will remain accessible throughout the entire course. So don’t feel that you have to stop on every topic until you understand it completely. It might be easier to understand later, and you can always come back to it.
If you have questions about the material in the videos and the quizzes, you should visit the Forum on the class web page. It will take you to a wonderfully rich and varied online discussion with your fellow students. Jump in and post questions and answers and learn from your colleagues. It’s one of the most exciting parts of the class
See you online soon.
– Phil and Nick
So, I am in the class now.
We will see if I have the time to devote to it, if so I will post some blog articles about what I discover. It has been over 20 years since I took my last computer networking course, and that was back when Novell Netware and star networks were still the rage. I have a feeling that there may be things to learn, if I have the time to devote to the class.
