14 replies to this topic

[abelard lindsay]

Hey everybody, Coursera is offering a free class on Medical Neuroscience given by Duke University. It looks like it's going to be a technical and detail heavy course and not some "Mysteries of the Brain for Dummies" course. This should be good for those of us who aspire to really take our understanding of the brain to the next level. Who's going to take it with me?

https://www.coursera...se/medicalneuro

Course Syllabus

Topics covered include:

1. Surface and internal anatomy of the human brain and spinal cord
2. Neural signaling and plasticity
3. Sensory systems
4. Motor systems
5. Brain development across the lifespan

6. Brain basis of cognition

Recommended Background
To be successful in this course, a college-level background in cellular and molecular biology and general knowledge of systems physiology and human anatomy is strongly recommended.

[YOLF]

Sounds interesting, maybe...

[Major Legend]

Too bad I have no science background...bad decisions...bad decisions...

[YOLF]

Never too late to start... Old college text books go for cheap. Why not pick one up and try it in your free time?

[Major Legend]

Never too late to start... Old college text books go for cheap. Why not pick one up and try it in your free time?

Where do I start?

[brainslugged]

Hmm... I am tempted, but I am afraid this will end up like the last coursera class I took (ie: wait until the night the first test is due before I even start on it, and barely even finish the test before the deadline and then not even do any of the other courses).

Thanks for the alert, though. I will look into it. Always neat to see these kinds of things.

[YOLF]

Never too late to start... Old college text books go for cheap. Why not pick one up and try it in your free time?

Chem or Bio, maybe anatomy.

Hmm... I am tempted, but I am afraid this will end up like the last coursera class I took (ie: wait until the night the first test is due before I even start on it, and barely even finish the test before the deadline and then not even do any of the other courses).

Thanks for the alert, though. I will look into it. Always neat to see these kinds of things.

I think if we're doing it as a group of friends it will work out fine. Unless of course someone has kids, then they always drop out of the activity.

[brainslugged]

Major Legend, I don't know if you have looked into this, but GoodWill or similar charity stores are GREAT places to find educational material.

I have bought so many textbooks from GoodWill, and they were each only $2.50, a great deal. You kinda have to just sift through the crap and find the good stuff, but I have found the DSM-4, several psych books, AP test guides, the SAT blue book, a few health books, a C++ programming book, mechanical engineering books, TONS of health/biology books, even the textbook for one of my classes. If you don't feel any shame for going in and digging around (and you shouldn't), you can find some real treasures. Normally, there isn't even any writing in the books (the SAT one was almost BRAND NEW!). The books I buy at goodwill are better quality than the ones I buy at used bookstores!

You should really check out stores similar to GoodWill. A lot of people don't even know that there are so many good books at charity stores like that. It is great if you want to learn and don't have the money to spend on high dollar textbooks. Of course, having the discipline to study/read for more than 5 minutes is still something that I am working on

I think if we're doing it as a group of friends it will work out fine. Unless of course someone has kids, then they always drop out of the activity.

Dealing with myself is kinda like having a kid inside my mind

I never dropped out of any of them, I just stopped doing them. I probably have 10 classes I have outright failed because I never even started them, ha ha. I just signed up because they all looked so cool and kept thinking "oh, yeah, I need to remember to do those lessons"... and I never did Hopefully things will be different soon.

[Tom_]

This sounds awesome! I am so joining you!

I have no official university education in neuroscience, biochemistry, biology, medicine or physiology but I fully expect to be able to cope with the course, after all I spend hours each day immersed bio-sciences, I literally can't get enough.

[YOLF]

Brainslug:
It would definitely be pretty cool to be part of the group. When does the class start? I have EMT training coming up.

Organic Chem Textbooks: $4 (1999 edition)
http://www.ebay.com/...=item4ac26326f5

Go for ebay and have at it, lots of choices and you pick how out of date you are. Don't forget there are also sites that sell international editions which are the same as the US editions for like $30 a copy for the new one (brand new in plastic). Education is "smart" robbery in the developed world it seems. IIRC scribd.com or something like that lets you read textbooks for free or for a super cheap subscription fee. That might be the best way to go. It's basically a yearly fee for all you can read and download.

[Tom_]

It started on the 8th.

[brainslugged]

Screw it, I am going to try, I think. What's the harm in trying? If I get too 'busy', I can just drop it (yes, you can fully erase courses, just found that out, so you don't have to worry about a 0 following you around forever).

I have finals in a few weeks, so that may be kinda annoying, but if it is like the other course that I started, you have quite some time to take the tests and everything, so it should be okay. Plus, chem is the only real final I will have, and maybe this will complement it nicely.

cryonicsculture, if you haven't joined yet, you still can. The first quiz is due on the 28th (this month), so you have time. There is about 5.5-6 hours of lecture to get through before then, though. I think it should be manageable, but I don't know how intense EMT training is.

If you feel like it is too much, or if we feel overwhelmed by the organic-chem that we don't know, don't worry too much about it. They have lots of interesting courses all the time, so you don't have to feel like "this is a once in a lifetime chance" or something. I mean, they don't have neuroscience ones constantly, but I am sure they will have another comparable course in the next few years.

Also, it may be worth noting that a lot of text books can be found on the internet for free if you don't mind reading scanned pages on a monitor Not to encourage stealing, but I think the ethics of this sort of situation are pretty agreeable. Just make sure you download it from good sources.

Good luck to all! We can do it (I hope; come on nootropics, do your thing)!

[YOLF]

Ok, I'm in! Let's do this! I want everyone to get on skype and discuss class though to keep us all in the game.

[NeuroNootropic]

Just signed up, hopefully I'll be able to focus on it and actually learn something.

[abelard lindsay]

Watched a fair amount of the first week. The good part was learning about the microanatomy, neurons,axons,dendrites, gilial cells, oligodendrocyties, astrocytes, etc. I read these terms in medical studies on a regular basis. The boring part was him telling you the latin name of each crease and crevice of the brain, while pointing at some brain he got out of a jar somewhere. The boring part would be very useful if I was going to be a brain surgeon or do medical science with actual human brains, but I'm not.

Edited by abelard lindsay, 13 April 2013 - 01:54 AM.