How To Behave Irrationally (Free Duke U Online Course)

[natureexplorer]

http://youtu.be/dzSfmkbQClk

[chaz]

Interesting course.

[VictoriaF]

Thank you. I have signed up for the course that will be offered on the Coursera web site. From the course description:

Next Session: 25 March 2013 (6 weeks)
Workload: 7-10 hours/week

This class has two main goals:
1. To introduce you to the range of cases where people (consumers, investors, managers, and significant others) make decisions that are inconsistent with standard economic theory and the assumptions of rational decision making. This is the lens of behavioral economics.
2. To help you think creatively about the applications of behavioral economic principles for the development of new products, technology based products, public policies, and to understand how business and social policy strategies could be modified with a deeper understanding of the effects these principles have on employees and customers.

Victoria

[ejvyas]

There are many more free courses on Coursera from popular universities to spice up your knowledge.

[SunDevil]

Looks cool; I just signed up. Thanks for the link!

[Fallible]

http://youtu.be/dzSfmkbQClk

All signed up. I like the course's understated recommended background: "Curiosity about human nature."

Thanks for the link (thanks to VictoriaF for adding Ariely and the course description). Nice little video, too. Would love to join him in the wine-tasting.

[VictoriaF]

http://youtu.be/dzSfmkbQClk

All signed up. I like the course's understated recommended background: "Curiosity about human nature."

Thanks for the link (thanks to VictoriaF for adding Ariely and the course description). Nice little video, too. Would love to join him in the wine-tasting.

The wine reminded me one of Ariely's experiments where he was serving four types of "exotic" beers. He probably will not be able to get away with another similar experiment; he is too famous now.

Victoria

[Fallible]

http://youtu.be/dzSfmkbQClk

All signed up. I like the course's understated recommended background: "Curiosity about human nature."

Thanks for the link (thanks to VictoriaF for adding Ariely and the course description). Nice little video, too. Would love to join him in the wine-tasting.

The wine reminded me one of Ariely's experiments where he was serving four types of "exotic" beers. He probably will not be able to get away with another similar experiment; he is too famous now.

Victoria

Right and that's a very interesting observation. If I were in one of his experiments, I'd know something was up, although i still wouldn't know what. But would such wariness affect the experiment?

[VictoriaF]

http://youtu.be/dzSfmkbQClk

All signed up. I like the course's understated recommended background: "Curiosity about human nature."

Thanks for the link (thanks to VictoriaF for adding Ariely and the course description). Nice little video, too. Would love to join him in the wine-tasting.

The wine reminded me one of Ariely's experiments where he was serving four types of "exotic" beers. He probably will not be able to get away with another similar experiment; he is too famous now.

Victoria

Right and that's a very interesting observation. If I were in one of his experiments, I'd know something was up, although i still wouldn't know what. But would such wariness affect the experiment?

Ariely is really really clever. He may design an experiment specifically related to people who know him. You and I could volunteer. I am half-joking; Ariely might involve the students of his March 2013 class in some of his experiments.

Victoria

[Fallible]

...

Ariely is really really clever. He may design an experiment specifically related to people who know him. You and I could volunteer. I am half-joking; Ariely might involve the students of his March 2013 class in some of his experiments.

I hope he does! Wish the course weren't so many months off.

[pkcrafter]

Ariely is indeed clever--I suspect those that sign up will be the subjects of his next book. Opening up the class gives Ariely a substantial population to test. Would not surprise me that if were given different information to analyze and different assignments. I've read two of his books and I can't resist becoming another guinea pig. Thanks for posting this.

Paul

[Fallible]

Just read an interesting article about online courses, including a mention of Coursera, in today's New York Times. I don't think it'll apply to Ariely's course, but here's the gist of it (although the entire article should be read to fully appreciate his point):

"Online education is a one-size-fits-all endeavor. It tends to be a monologue and not a real dialogue. The Internet teacher, even one who responds to students via e-mail, can never have the immediacy of contact that the teacher on the scene can, with his sensitivity to unspoken moods and enthusiasms."

I'm sure that's true, but based on my experiences I think it depends on how good the "teacher on the scene" is, and it depends on the student. I was very inspired by only two college professors and had little interaction with them in class and almost never asked questions; I just loved what they had to say.

The link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/20/opini ... ml?_r=1&hp

[VictoriaF]

Fallible,

Thank you for the article. I agree with its sentiment. An online course is very different from a personal interaction; there is something about being in the physical proximity of another human (professor) and many other humans (other students) that cannot be replicated online.

The article mentions that monologue-like courses are similar to reading a book. The comparison is good with respect to the single-directionality of information. But a book actually has some advantages over a video lecture. For example, with a book one can slow down or speed up, it is easy to revisit some material, and, my favorite, one can make notes on the margins.

Given a choice, I would have taken Ariely's live class. Under the circumstances an online version is better than nothing.

Victoria

[Muchtolearn]

I am so excited about Coursera which I just learned about. I signed up for a course which has date TBD. From what I can tell although you do it at your own pace, it is indeed given along a period of time with weekly lectures, etc. The big universities have jumped in, which I presume means they endorse it. Already a whole bunch of college profs are yelling that this is not good because it doesn't have 1 on 1 discussion. That's true. I point out that neither do large lecture classes, which these will one day replace. It is one way to get at the high costs of education.

[Frugal Al]

Why do we wear t-shirts with a polo pony on them?

[SGM]

I just signed on to coursera for a Science Fiction course. The professor appears to be outstanding to me, after looking at the first video clip. The price is right and one can drop out at will.

I was attracted to this site, partially because I have been watching the UVa situation and the board of visitor's desire for UVa to get involved in online teaching. Apparently the business school was independently developing a course in association with the site and stepped up their efforts immediately after the announced resignation of the president, over lack of movement in this direction. UVa already now has several courses on this site, and president Sulivan has been restored to office.