Coursera On Line Course

[Calm Man]

Hi, I am not sure this fits into any of the forum categories but hopefully it is of sufficient interest to be maintained. I am in decision-making time for retirement. One of the ways I thought might be useful to pass time and sharpen the mind was to take courses. Well, there are a few online offerings, all free (for now). One is Coursera and I just began a course on game theory, which I love.

Have any of you done any of these courses and after awhile does this type of thing "get old" or does it continue to incite interest? Those who have done a few semesters might have a lot to offer.

[VictoriaF]

I took a Coursera Model Thinking course and successfully completed it. It was an excellent course, and I started using some models almost immediately. To be clear, I am using models conceptually; a practical application of these models could take a separate course on each of them. Model Thinking will be offered again starting on 28 January 2013.

I was also enrolled in the edX course Health in Numbers: Quantitative Methods in Clinical & Public Health Research but dropped out at about the middle of it. The course (offered by Harvard) was very good, but it was taking too much of my time.

Several people here have signed for A Beginner's Guide to Irrational Behavior taught by Dan Ariely based on his three Behavioral Economics books.

I think Coursera and edX courses provide wonderful opportunities for retirement, but they are the most useful for those who are used to studying alone, without access to TAs and other students. Both Coursera and edX offer discussion boards, but I did not use them much.

Victoria

[brianbooth]

I took the game theory course although between work and the *real* MBA program, did not have the time to complete it. The course was very good - good enough to make me question dropping a couple grand per class to buy a degree...

[HouseStark]

I took a Coursera Model Thinking course and successfully completed it. It was an excellent course, and I started using some models almost immediately. To be clear, I am using models conceptually; a practical application of these models could take a separate course on each of them. Model Thinking will be offered again starting on 28 January 2013.

Victoria

Is Model Thinking a prerequisite to Supermodel Thinking? I heard that one's really in demand.

[VictoriaF]

I took a Coursera Model Thinking course and successfully completed it. It was an excellent course, and I started using some models almost immediately. To be clear, I am using models conceptually; a practical application of these models could take a separate course on each of them. Model Thinking will be offered again starting on 28 January 2013.

Victoria

Is Model Thinking a prerequisite to Supermodel Thinking? I heard that one's really in demand.

Coursera may offer a course in oxymorons.

Victoria

[Sidney]

Several people here have signed for A Beginner's Guide to Irrational Behavior taught by Dan Ariely based on his three Behavioral Economics books.

My spouse insists that I can teach the advanced course.

[Calm Man]

Followup of the first day's lesson and test. Remember that I haven't taken a class in about 35 years and was a little cocky and probably didn't take it slowly enough. I did not do that well on the first test and don't think that Nash Equilibrium and Pareto dominance is so easy !!!!

[VictoriaF]

Followup of the first day's lesson and test. Remember that I haven't taken a class in about 35 years and was a little cocky and probably didn't take it slowly enough. I did not do that well on the first test and don't think that Nash Equilibrium and Pareto dominance is so easy !!!!

Check if your course provides PowerPoint slides for download and/or text files containing captions. That would help you with a review.

Victoria

[ryuns]

Followup of the first day's lesson and test. Remember that I haven't taken a class in about 35 years and was a little cocky and probably didn't take it slowly enough. I did not do that well on the first test and don't think that Nash Equilibrium and Pareto dominance is so easy !!!!

I'm sad to admit that I dropped out of the fascinating coursera Astronomy course after two short weeks. The professor was quite good and I was blown away by how well they were able to use web learning for something like that (complete with high-quality and free wikibooks, links to free and reduced price price software and apps). Unfortunately, I hadn't come to terms with the fact that their recommended 6-8 hours per week of work would truly mean that and possibly more, even for those who were students within the last decade, and I wasn't committed enough to a "hobby" to be able to commit MORE time to staring at a computer after coming after a job that requires largely that. My life is not particularly stressful and my time post-work time is filled largely with other hobbies and passions; it was difficult to commit so firmly to one, and to one that used a part of my brain I had been using all day (as opposed to, say, gardening, exercise, music, movies, beer, or anything else I'm passionate about).

Anyway, it's a really great opportunity for people who are interested in the topics at hand and who can commit to the time required.

[VictoriaF]

Unfortunately, I hadn't come to terms with the fact that their recommended 6-8 hours per week of work would truly mean that and possibly more...

My edX course was taking me 10-16 hours a week, many more than nominally listed. I was spending most of my time working out examples and home-works using a statistical package Stata. In addition to learning and using Stata, the course featured two parallel sets of lectures (in Biostatistics and Epidemiology), guest speakers describing various trials, and papers to review. This was probably the first course I have ever dropped. It was embarrassing, but the course was preventing me from doing many other important things. I would retire just to be able to take it again.

Victoria

[ryuns]

Unfortunately, I hadn't come to terms with the fact that their recommended 6-8 hours per week of work would truly mean that and possibly more...

My edX course was taking me 10-16 hours a week, many more than nominally listed. I was spending most of my time working out examples and home-works using a statistical package Stata. In addition to learning and using Stata, the course featured two parallel sets of lectures (in Biostatistics and Epidemiology), guest speakers describing various trials, and papers to review. This was probably the first course I have ever dropped. It was embarrassing, but the course was preventing me from doing many other important things. I would retire just to be able to take it again.

Victoria

Haha. Yes, for me, I spent a long time simply trying to adjust my frame of reference to motion and location is described relative to earth, in ways I'd never done before, and I never was able to put in the time to get particularly good at it. I imagine it's a common theme that, while many of the courses are technically "introductory", true "intro" students will need to plan to dedicate additional time to come up to speed on things more experienced students in the field would take for granted. That includes things like software, terminology, and "ways of thinking".

[skylar]

Followup of the first day's lesson and test. Remember that I haven't taken a class in about 35 years and was a little cocky and probably didn't take it slowly enough. I did not do that well on the first test and don't think that Nash Equilibrium and Pareto dominance is so easy !!!!

I'm sad to admit that I dropped out of the fascinating coursera Astronomy course after two short weeks. The professor was quite good and I was blown away by how well they were able to use web learning for something like that (complete with high-quality and free wikibooks, links to free and reduced price price software and apps). Unfortunately, I hadn't come to terms with the fact that their recommended 6-8 hours per week of work would truly mean that and possibly more, even for those who were students within the last decade, and I wasn't committed enough to a "hobby" to be able to commit MORE time to staring at a computer after coming after a job that requires largely that. My life is not particularly stressful and my time post-work time is filled largely with other hobbies and passions; it was difficult to commit so firmly to one, and to one that used a part of my brain I had been using all day (as opposed to, say, gardening, exercise, music, movies, beer, or anything else I'm passionate about).

Anyway, it's a really great opportunity for people who are interested in the topics at hand and who can commit to the time required.

I had the same problem. I successfully completed the "Computing for Data Analysis" class (passing at 100%!), and then went on to the GPGPU programming class. I ended up withdrawing from that one because the course start date was delayed so much that the course overlapped with my already-planned Christmas vacation. Unfortunately, while the data analysis class had a pool of late days you could draw from, the GPGPU class did not. This meant I would have to have completed course work and watched lectures while on vacation, which I just couldn't get excited about. I get to take little enough vacation as it is that I wanted to be able to enjoy my time off. Maybe next year...

Skylar

[Fallible]

...
Several people here have signed for A Beginner's Guide to Irrational Behavior taught by Dan Ariely based on his three Behavioral Economics books. ...
Victoria

I'm among the BHers signed up for Ariely's "Irrational" but have to admit that after surfing more of Coursera's offerings (I felt like a kid in a candy shop, the Coursera Candy Shop) I also signed up for two more courses (one of which may conflict with Ariely) and am surprised I was able to stop at that. You can probably tell I'm a first-timer for online courses so I've got lots to learn about it and what I reasonably can (and want to) handle, thus this thread has been helpful. Lucky for me I am retired.

[VictoriaF]

I also signed up for two more courses (one of which may conflict with Ariely) and am surprised I was able to stop at that. You can probably tell I'm a first-timer for online courses so I've got lots to learn about it and what I reasonably can (and want to) handle, thus this thread has been helpful. Lucky for me I am retired.

You also need time and energy for the Think-off .

Victoria

[Fallible]

I also signed up for two more courses (one of which may conflict with Ariely) and am surprised I was able to stop at that. You can probably tell I'm a first-timer for online courses so I've got lots to learn about it and what I reasonably can (and want to) handle, thus this thread has been helpful. Lucky for me I am retired.

You also need time and energy for the Think-off .

Victoria

Remember, I’m retired, plus the Think-Off essay will be fun. But how will you find the time?

[VictoriaF]

I also signed up for two more courses (one of which may conflict with Ariely) and am surprised I was able to stop at that. You can probably tell I'm a first-timer for online courses so I've got lots to learn about it and what I reasonably can (and want to) handle, thus this thread has been helpful. Lucky for me I am retired.

You also need time and energy for the Think-off .

Victoria

Remember, I’m retired, plus the Think-Off essay will be fun. But how will you find the time?

We will probably get furloughs. I was hoping for a few-week break, but it seems that they will be giving us one-two days per week for many weeks.

Victoria

[PaddyMac]

Fundaments for Personal Financial Planning
https://www.coursera.org/course/financialplanning

is probably too basic for most of your here. But I passed it onto a friend who is asking about very basic questions and so I thought I'd share it in case you have similar friends.

[JupiterJones]

Fundaments for Personal Financial Planning

I've signed up for that one. My wife and I are taking it together, in fact. I'm hoping there is some good stuff in there, but if it winds up being too basic, we'll drop it.

I'm currently taking the "Computing for Data Analysis" class that Skylar took, although it's a slight revamp of the previous go-round. It's basically an intro to the R programming language, and is a sort of preparation for the follow-up class "Data Analysis" (which starts in a few weeks and in which I'm also enrolled).

So far, I like the class. A bit too heavy on the video lectures for my tastes (I'm more of a book learner). But hey, you can't beat the price.

*** TANGENT ALERT ***

And really, I think this is the way education seems to be going. The idea of physically going to one place, where you sit in rooms to learn things from just one small collection of teachers, then get a credential that proves to the world that you supposedly really do know those things, and pay bubble-inflated prices for the privilege, seems a bit... inefficient these days.

For many fields (not all yet, but many), I see us moving toward different models. Maybe it will be a "driver's license" model where credentialing is decoupled from the learning. You simply have to pass written and/or practical tests to get a credential, and the credentialing agency doesn't really care where or how you actually acquired the learning.

Or maybe in some cases we'll move to an "audition" model where there is no credentialing agency, because nobody even cares about the credential, so long as you can prove you have the skills to the person doing the hiring.

Regardless, the role of self-directed education is going to just get bigger and bigger, I suspect.

*** END OF TANGENT ***

JJ

[PaddyMac]

Many bogleheads seem to be experts in some field. If so, if you have time and interest, look into creating your own video online courses. We started doing that a few years ago and now make a very good income from sharing our knowledge.

[greenspam]

took coursera course on "arguments" and lost interest quickly; lecturer was uninspiring and content was not what i expected....

but am loving week 1 of "game theory"; almost finished all the vid lectures and have already learned alot.



and as an aside for those of you who enjoy challenging your brain online, (and with potential to win some real $$$), there is still time to sign up for the online 'jeopardy' test, the first step towards becoming a jeopardy contestant.

testing was last night, tonight (1/9) and tomorrow night (1/10). go to the jeopardy website and follow instructions.

[VictoriaF]

Based on today's Washington Post, Online college courses to grant credentials, for a fee.

Victoria

[VictoriaF]

Several people here have signed for A Beginner's Guide to Irrational Behavior taught by Dan Ariely based on his three Behavioral Economics books.

Victoria

Dan Ariely has just sent a welcome message for A Beginner's Guide to Irrational Behavior course. Perhaps, we can have a Bogleheads study group?

Victoria

[Karamatsu]

I took the cryptography course offered by Dan Boneh (Stanford) through Coursera and was very happy with it. What I liked most was that it was the real thing, not something watered down for the web, but as people have said, that meant devoting a lot of "real thing" time to study. The only difficulty was scheduling. Since the course was being offered for the first time there were sometimes delays in getting material available, test periods got moved around, etc, so it was impossible to plan "real world" life around the schedule for the course so that deadlines could always be met. But that said, if you're in it for the learning rather than the grade, it doesn't matter much. First class education for free is hard to beat!

[LadyGeek]

Hi, I am not sure this fits into any of the forum categories but hopefully it is of sufficient interest to be maintained

This thread is now in the Personal Consumer Issues forum. Take a look at the forum description under the Board index:

Questions on how we spend our money and our time - consumer goods and services, home and vehicle, leisure and recreational activities

[VictoriaF]

Take a look at the forum description under the Board index:

Questions on how we spend our money and our time - consumer goods and services, home and vehicle, leisure and recreational activities

Hi LadyGeek,

I am asking this question in an open forum rather than sending you a PM, because I am interested in the opinion of Your Honor Moderator as well as the opinions of ordinary mortals. The Boglehead boat is entering some uncharted waters here.

On Monday, 25 March 2013, the Coursera course A Beginner's Guide to Irrational Behavior starts. Behavioral Economics is within the Forum's policy as evidenced by several accepted, informative and uncontroversial threads. (Those unfamiliar with Behavioral Economics should be assured that it is very different from the prohibited Economics.)

I know several people who will be taking this course, and there must be many more I don't know about. Some good information has been exchanged in PMs, but it's not visible and not scalable. It would be quite useful to dedicate a special thread to the course discussions. Such thread, if Your Honor allows it, would have to follow several rules including:
1. Not violating any Bogleheads Forum policies.
2. Not violating Coursera's Honor Code.
3. Discouraging people from making irrelevant remarks such as "I have better things to do than doing Coursera" or "My Coursera course is better than your Coursera course" or ... you get my point.

And so my question are:
To LadyGeek:
- Would you allow such thread?
- If yes, should we hold it in Personal Consumer Issues or you have better ideas?
- Are you going to take this course? {a trick question}

To aspiring Behavioral Economists:
- Are you interested in such a thread?
- If yes, would you agree with the rules I noted above?
- Should we have any other rules?

Victoria
{irrationally hoping that it will work}

[LadyGeek]

Madam VictoriaF,

May I refer you to the Forum Policy, particularly the section concerning the purpose of this forum?

This is an investing and personal finance forum. We also maintain a subforum that allow our members to discuss consumer goods and services and recreational activities. Anything else is considered "Off Topic" and is not acceptable on this forum.

General discussions concerning course material are off-topic as clarified by the site owner Alex Frakt here: A reminder that non-investing general comment threads are OT In this thread, you will find examples of on-topic and off-topic discussions. A general discussion of course content would be off-topic and therefore not permitted. However, if one could phrase the question in a manner which applies personally, the topic would be acceptable.

The forum guidelines are set by the site owners, Alex Frakt and mingstar. If one wishes to modify the guidelines, the best course of action is to PM a member of the Advisory Board with your request. An open discussion regarding the guidelines is not productive.

The OP's question concerns what to do in his leisure time, which is on-topic.

Taking the course myself is a trick question, as I follow Mark Twain's advice: "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."

[kitteh]

Hi, I am not sure this fits into any of the forum categories but hopefully it is of sufficient interest to be maintained. I am in decision-making time for retirement. One of the ways I thought might be useful to pass time and sharpen the mind was to take courses. Well, there are a few online offerings, all free (for now). One is Coursera and I just began a course on game theory, which I love.

Have any of you done any of these courses and after awhile does this type of thing "get old" or does it continue to incite interest? Those who have done a few semesters might have a lot to offer.

I personally prefer actual classes. A number of universities have usually evening classes open to the community. Alas with the recession, these are taking a hit, but you might find something useful in your area. Also, it gets you out of the house, if that is a concern.

[Fallible]

Several people here have signed for A Beginner's Guide to Irrational Behavior taught by Dan Ariely based on his three Behavioral Economics books.

Victoria

Dan Ariely has just sent a welcome message for A Beginner's Guide to Irrational Behavior course. Perhaps, we can have a Bogleheads study group?

Victoria

Hi Victoria,

Just reporting in to say I'll definitely be taking "Irrational" since the class I'm now taking is not what I thought it would be. I really put some work into it the last few weeks, including prep time, and I don't like quitting it, but I suppose this happens fairly often with first-timers like myself to online courses. I don't expect this to happen with Ariely because I already like him and have read his books. BTW, last I knew there were two or three others signed up for him last year when I did.

Fallible

[VictoriaF]

Hi Fallible,

The real question is, "Did you click on the Don't Click Here button?"

Victoria

[Fallible]

Hi Fallible,

The real question is, "Did you click on the Don't Click Here button?"

Victoria

What is that?

[VictoriaF]

Hi Fallible,

The real question is, "Did you click on the Don't Click Here button?"

Victoria

What is that?

Have you visited the course site? There is a lot of information there! The above-mentioned button is just one of the things you must contemplate before the 25th.

Victoria

[Fallible]

Hi Fallible,

The real question is, "Did you click on the Don't Click Here button?"

Victoria

What is that?

Have you visited the course site? There is a lot of information there! The above-mentioned button is just one of the things you must contemplate before the 25th.

Victoria

Oops, no I haven't checked out the site yet. I was going to do that this weekend but sounds as if I'd better start tomorrow. I'll let you know about the button - good thing you mentioned it.

[Fallible]

Hi Fallible,

The real question is, "Did you click on the Don't Click Here button?"

Victoria

Well, did YOU click? My guess is it's an experiment that Dan will come to in a lecture. The TAs didn't say to NOT click, just that it "looks dangerous" and we "probably" won't want to click it, which will of course challenge some to do just that, right? I want to click.

[LadyGeek]

MIT has a project that can assist with your question: don't press the red button

[Fallible]

MIT has a project that can assist with your question: don't press the red button

This looks more "dangerous" than the don't-click button. I'll let VictoriaF handle this.

[VictoriaF]

MIT has a project that can assist with your question: don't press the red button

This looks more "dangerous" than the don't-click button. I'll let VictoriaF handle this.

Ah, but don't you think that the color of the MIT's button makes all the difference? What if the button were soothingly green or baby blue? What if the text DO NOT PRESS were written in girlish handwriting? Would you feel more at ease clicking on it? A web designer exerts identical effort on selecting any color and font, and yet, our perceptions are so different. Even perceptions of those of us steeped in Kahneman's and Ariely's wisdom.

One of my hopes for Ariely's course is that he would collect meaningful data from global participants. An important criticism of the Behavioral Economics research is that close to 90% of it is based on Western subjects, predominantly American subjects. Are Americans more likely to click Don't Click Here? Are there demographic groups that would never click it? Are there groups or individuals who would wait with their decisions until they glimpse the answer from discussion boards? Would Ariely and his team be able to correlate clicking on discussions and clicking on Don't Click Here?

Victoria

[Fallible]

MIT has a project that can assist with your question: don't press the red button

This looks more "dangerous" than the don't-click button. I'll let VictoriaF handle this.

Ah, but don't you think that the color of the MIT's button makes all the difference? What if the button were soothingly green or baby blue? What if the text DO NOT PRESS were written in girlish handwriting? Would you feel more at ease clicking on it? ....

Ah, but the question is still the one you asked: Did anybody click on the "Do Not Click" button?I have not but still want to, I may but probably will not but then you never know, revealing the usual wishy-washy me.

I have reviewed the site and have questions regarding the commitment contract, etc. It will be OT so I'll PM you, OK?

[downshiftme]

There is usually some context surrounding the "do not do this" admonishion. That context matters a great deal. If I have reason to believe that I know better than the person giving the order, then I am almost certain to ignore the order (and might or might not do the thing, based on my own decision). If the order comes with some explanation, even if brief, then I am MUCH MORE likely to take that into consideration, even if I have no idea who made the order or the explanation. (DO NOT PRESS. Shuts off power to shop floor)

Sometimes the context can be flip or playful, in which case I must suspect the the instruction may be sarcastic or even opposite of what is intended. (Smiley faces and hearts. Do not press). Or even deliberately attractive. (Do not press. Sexy comehither picture).

Color (red=danger) and size and CAPITALS and other factors all contribute to the context.

A totally uninformative context with no real reason to have concerns (such as a class exercise) I might press the button if I were simply feeling ornery or contrary that day. Or I might not, if I suspected it was a sneaky test, or I didn't want to be bothered playing someone's silly game. The devil is in the details, because the context matters more than the actual instruction Do Not Press.

[Fallible]

There is usually some context surrounding the "do not do this" admonishion. That context matters a great deal. If I have reason to believe that I know better than the person giving the order, then I am almost certain to ignore the order (and might or might not do the thing, based on my own decision). If the order comes with some explanation, even if brief, then I am MUCH MORE likely to take that into consideration, even if I have no idea who made the order or the explanation. (DO NOT PRESS. Shuts off power to shop floor)...

If I understand you right, I think the context for the Ariely class will be part of a lecture, something to do with reverse psychology, etc. If I had seen the "Don't Click Here" line on the Ariely class site before I'd heard about it from VictoriaF, I probably would've thought nothing of it and moved on, there being lots to absorb elsewhere. But her comment I think made me dwell on it as I considered whether I wanted to click. I did, but didn't, but I still do, but probably won't, maybe, maybe not. Lots of mental forces at work here.

[lwfitzge]

I signed up for a Healthcare and Entrepreneurship course on Coursera which starts in 2 weeks. I'll post back on my early experiences w the course.

[speedbump101]

I'm also taking Ariely's course starting tomorrow, Mar 25th, and no I didn't push the button.

Cheers,
SB...

[VictoriaF]

I'm also taking Ariely's course starting tomorrow, Mar 25th, and no I didn't push the button.

Cheers,
SB...

Great! Have you started reading the papers? (I have not, but I had several excuses.)

Victoria

P.S. The other thing we discussed is in works.

[speedbump101]

Great! Have you started reading the papers? (I have not, but I had several excuses.)

Victoria

P.S. The other thing we discussed is in works.

Of course not, I'm retired, and my motto is 'Why do today what can be done tomorrow.'

This philosophy along with the fact that I haven't done a non work related course in over 40 years
should produce some rather interesting results.

I have read two of the three books covered though.... I think!

SB...

[VictoriaF]

Great! Have you started reading the papers? (I have not, but I had several excuses.)

Victoria

P.S. The other thing we discussed is in works.

Of course not, I'm retired, and my motto is 'Why do today what can be done tomorrow.'

This philosophy along with the fact that I haven't done a non work related course in over 40 years
should produce some rather interesting results.

I have read two of the three books covered though.... I think!

SB...

I see. So clicking on the Do Not Click button would be an effort exceeding your retirement allocation of clicks? {Eureka smile}

Victoria

[speedbump101]

I see. So clicking on the Do Not Click button would be an effort exceeding your retirement allocation of clicks? {Eureka smile}

Victoria

Actually if you have read Prof. Ariely or watched his very entertaining TED talks you know this is a lemming trap and probably around 70% or more of us pondering the button will succumb (he's messing with our brains before the course has even started).

What's your percentage prediction?

SB...

[VictoriaF]

I see. So clicking on the Do Not Click button would be an effort exceeding your retirement allocation of clicks? {Eureka smile}

Victoria

Actually if you have read Prof. Ariely or watched his very entertaining TED talks you know this is a lemming trap and probably around 70% or more of us pondering the button will succumb (he's messing with our brains before the course has even started).

What's your percentage prediction?

SB...

I have no idea, and thus 50% is my best guess. As I wrote earlier, these courses attract large international participation, and I expect that people from non-Western cultures may be more compliant with the instructions. On the other hand, the Discussion Board has long threads on the subject of To Click or Not to Click, and group influences may turn the tide towards clicking. I wish Ariely had a way to correlate the data on what people have read before they clicked and the act of clicking.

I am not clicking for my own reasons. I am interested in how Ariely's findings could be related to people clicking on phishing email and visiting dangerous web sites.

Victoria

[LadyGeek]

Has anyone taken a look at the browser's source code for that page? In Firefox, right-click, View page source. Perhaps the answer is already there and you may not need to click on the button.

Kobayashi Maru.

[VictoriaF]

Has anyone taken a look at the browser's source code for that page? In Firefox, right-click, View page source. Perhaps the answer is already there and you may not need to click on the button.

Kobayashi Maru.

Right-clicking does not give me an option to View page source, but here is the link name:
https://class.coursera.org/behavioralec ... age=DANGER

DANGER in all-caps is particularly impressive at the end of a long small-case sentence.

Madam VictoriaF

[Teetlebaum]

In any case, wouldn't it make more sense to set up such a group on the Coursera site?

Take a look at the forum description under the Board index:

Questions on how we spend our money and our time - consumer goods and services, home and vehicle, leisure and recreational activities

Hi LadyGeek,

I am asking this question in an open forum rather than sending you a PM, because I am interested in the opinion of Your Honor Moderator as well as the opinions of ordinary mortals. The Boglehead boat is entering some uncharted waters here.

On Monday, 25 March 2013, the Coursera course A Beginner's Guide to Irrational Behavior starts. Behavioral Economics is within the Forum's policy as evidenced by several accepted, informative and uncontroversial threads. (Those unfamiliar with Behavioral Economics should be assured that it is very different from the prohibited Economics.)

I know several people who will be taking this course, and there must be many more I don't know about. Some good information has been exchanged in PMs, but it's not visible and not scalable. It would be quite useful to dedicate a special thread to the course discussions. Such thread, if Your Honor allows it, would have to follow several rules including:
1. Not violating any Bogleheads Forum policies.
2. Not violating Coursera's Honor Code.
3. Discouraging people from making irrelevant remarks such as "I have better things to do than doing Coursera" or "My Coursera course is better than your Coursera course" or ... you get my point.

And so my question are:
To LadyGeek:
- Would you allow such thread?
- If yes, should we hold it in Personal Consumer Issues or you have better ideas?
- Are you going to take this course? {a trick question}

To aspiring Behavioral Economists:
- Are you interested in such a thread?
- If yes, would you agree with the rules I noted above?
- Should we have any other rules?

Victoria
{irrationally hoping that it will work}

[VictoriaF]

In any case, wouldn't it make more sense to set up such a group on the Coursera site?

We now have an email-based study group, and I think it works rather well.

Victoria