Free Online Courses from Top Universities

Last time, I mentioned there were free lectures on the Internet, that post is here.

Below is another useful website which offers online courses from top universities for anyone to take. Coursera is a startup founded by Stanford computer science professors Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng, Its vision is to give everyone worldwide, with an Internet connection, access to the world-class education that has so far been available only to a select few.  Coursera hopes to empower people with education that will improve their lives, the lives of their families, and the communities they live in.

When taking the courses, students will watch lectures taught by world-class professors, learn at their own pace, test their knowledge, and reinforce concepts through interactive exercises. Students will also join a global community of thousands of students learning alongside them. Courses are offered in a wide range of topics, spanning the Humanities, Medicine, Biology, Social Sciences, Mathematics, Business, Computer Science, and many others.

Coursera offers free online University level classes

Current partner universities of Coursera

Leading to the Live Challenge

Lim Min, Lim Jeck and Lim Li have signed up for the Live Challenge scheduled for 22 Septermber (Saturaday). Their timings are:
Lim Min: 4 pm
Lim Jeck: 4 pm
Lim Li: 11 pm (who has to sign up for a later slot, as we have only 2 notebook computers with webcam at home).

Only for Week 5, the top 10 winners within the region will receive a prize pack of books and puzzles. After week 5, Lim Jeck's global rank is 1st of 3122 (tied with William Gan Wei Liang and Jaren Sta Maria). 

My kids are more interested in winning the top 7 and top 12 prizes (those underlined in Red), rather than the top 3 scholarship prizes.

Brilliant Challenge (Math Competition)

Take part in Brilliant Challenge!

Students solve problems online at their own pace and earn points over 5 weeks (maximum of 2300 points can be earned per week). New problems are released each week. At the end of the 5 weeks, students who have earned enough points will be invited to a Live Challenge conducted over Google Hangouts to compete for awards and scholarships. The official contest dates for the first Brilliant Challenge are Aug 13 - Sep 16. New problems sets will become available at the beginning of each week on Sunday (Singapore time is Monday morning), and the previous week’s problem sets will expire. However, students who join in the 4th (current week) and 5th week will still have ample opportunity to earn a sufficient number of points (i.e. 2200 points) to participate in the Live Challenge or take advantage of Master Classes and other prizes.

The Live Challenge will be held on Saturday, September 22, (Singapore time may be 1 day later) 2012. Students may choose from several time slots throughout the day, but may only participate once. The Live Challenge will be 1 hour in length. Brilliant coordinators will monitor students over webcam to maintain the integrity of the challenge.

As of now, Lim Jeck is ranked 1st (tie with 1 others) out of 2280 participants, after completing Week 4 contest. Lim Li is ranked 19th after completing Week 4 contest. The ranking is just for fun, it has no bearing on the Live Challenge. Lim Min only took part in Week 1 and 2 contests and she is not keen to continue with the contest.

To win the top prizes, only the Live Challenge points will be counted. Hence, you do not have any handicap even if you join only Week 4 and/or Week 5 contests. Join NOW!

Click for a bigger image. Prizes for Brilliant Math Challenge Fall 2012. Unless otherwise stated, prizes are for students grade 12 and below, and are based on performance on the Live Challenge. 

SMO 2012 Prize Presentation

Lim Jeck receiving SMO Open Individual 1st Award ($600) from the Guest of Honour, Ms Ho Peng

NUS High Team (Lim Jeck, Yan Hao and Yan Sheng) clinches SMO Open Team 1st Award ($1000, last year's SMO Open Team 2nd was $700).

RI Team (Way Tan, David Lin and Siah Yong) receiving SMO Senior Team 1st Award.

NUS High Team (Yan Hao, Surya and Choong Yin) receiving SMO Senior Team 2nd Award.

RI Team (Glen, Yijia and Sheldon) receiving SMO Junior Team 1st Award

Clarence Chew wins the SMO Junior Individual 3rd Award

Dylan Toh from Nanyang Primary receives the SMO Junior Individual 18th Award 

IMO 2012 Team (Lim Jeck, Yan Hao, You Jun, Ryan, Lawrence and Yan Sheng) receiving awards of $1000 (IMO Gold), $500 (IMO Silver) and $250 (IMO Bronze).

Jansen, Jiun Harn, Surya and Lim Jeck

The Top 3 School Team Winners are as follows:

SMO Junior: 1st - RI, 2nd - NUS High, 3rd - HCI

SMO Senior: 1st - RI, 2nd - NUS High, 3rd - HCI

SMO Open: 1st - NUS High, 2nd - RI, 3rd - HCI

Thanks to Meng Ai, Dorothea and Sudha, for the photos. :)