Coursera.org... How are their certificates credible?

[Impulse_One]

Hi all,

There is website, coursera.org, that offers to do courses for free, but you have to buy certificate to receive credit for course. Certificate contains your name, signature of lecturer and web link that can be accessed to view the certificate.

As per title, are those certificates credible in SA?

 

[nevadayz]

some of them you can get a certificate for just completing the course,
i wouldn't say they would hold much weight professionally, but more of a personal growth aspect.

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

If I had to interview you and saw Coursera on your CV, I would be impressed but I would first test you to make sure you actually studied.

I put it on par with any non-degree/diploma short course certificate. Its not easy but its value depends on how well the person understands what it is.

I've done a couple of courses with them and love it but found no need to do the signature track.

 

[Paul Hjul]

Hi all,

There is website, coursera.org, that offers to do courses for free, but you have to buy certificate to receive credit for course. Certificate contains your name, signature of lecturer and web link that can be accessed to view the certificate.

As per title, are those certificates credible in SA?

The ordinary coursera certificates aren't verified or really usable for anything other than personal accomplishment or as evidence for a pub bet, there are however signature tracks on some courses that carry the weight of the institution signing them - and there is a fee. Signature track courses though generally carry very little actual credit if you look into it a bit more carefully - in the main it really boils down to a little bit of credit that you can use within a course at the institutions involved. IIRC no SA educational institution is involved yet and it really would be valuable if some things did align on that front.

 

[MrR]

I've done two courses over the past year through coursera, both of which were unverified. IIRC, in order to obtain the actual certification, one has to pay +250 USD and have some of my work peer reviewed.

I wouldn't classify this as formal education or a substitute it for local tertiary educational institutions, however there is some credibility behind it. I need to go through 40 hours of training (CPD) each year to maintain certifications, of which a certain amount need to be verifiable and may be subject to an audit from a governing body. The governing body partially accepted my participation in both courses (only accepted a % of total hours), so these "short courses" worked out for me.

Don't take these courses lightly though, some can be very demanding.

You can also try EdX.org
I'm currently doing a course through them and it's pretty much the same as Coursera

 

[semaphore]

I've done two courses over the past year through coursera, both of which were unverified. IIRC, in order to obtain the actual certification, one has to pay +250 USD and have some of my work peer reviewed.

I wouldn't classify this as formal education or a substitute it for local tertiary educational institutions, however there is some credibility behind it. I need to go through 40 hours of training (CPD) each year to maintain certifications, of which a certain amount need to be verifiable and may be subject to an audit from a governing body. The governing body partially accepted my participation in both courses (only accepted a % of total hours), so these "short courses" worked out for me.

Don't take these courses lightly though, some can be very demanding.

You can also try EdX.org
I'm currently doing a course through them and it's pretty much the same as Coursera

The one i did cost me 45 USD. Have not seen any for 250+ link would be nice.

 

[MrR]

The one i did cost me 45 USD. Have not seen any for 250+ link would be nice.

Seems I got my prices mixed up. Many apologies!

Normal certificates on coursera go for 49 USD and some specialization certificate go for 245 (this is what I remember seeing); the specialization certificate has a couple of subjects/courses linked to it.
Normal certificate : https://www.coursera.org/course/inforisk
Specialization certificate : https://www.coursera.org/specialization/cybersecurity/7?utm_medium=listingPage

EdX is rather expensive though:
90 USD for a verified course
2050 USD for actual Harvard Credit
https://www.edx.org/course/harvardx/harvardx-cs50x-introduction-computer-1022#.U7FqHvmSyCk

 

[Impulse_One]

Thank you all for your responses!

I wanted to know in context of putting it in CV and how it will be credible in eyes of employer (provided that I already have diploma).

 

[Paul Hjul]

Thank you all for your responses!

I wanted to know in context of putting it in CV and how it will be credible in eyes of employer (provided that I already have diploma).

I wouldn't put it in the academic qualifications section, an interests and hobbies section can be a possibly useful thing to mention

 

[gkm]

I wouldn't put it in the academic qualifications section, an interests and hobbies section can be a possibly useful thing to mention

One should put it in the same section as other courses. It is not an academic qualification, but if it is a job related course, it is certainly not an interest or a hobby.