Is it possible to recreate a world class MBA with the internet, a library card, and caffeine?
A Missing Fear of Prerequisites
It would not be totally true to say I am enjoying my newest Coursera.org class - Social and Economic Networks: Models and Analysis from Stanford. I started a similar class
last year (Social Network Analysis) which I really enjoyed and have
applied at work (at least in theory) and thought this class might be as
interesting. I have a bit more time on my hands now than when I tried
Social Network Analysis and was very optimistic I’d finish this class.
It’s feeling unlikely at the moment.
I read the following description and decided – though I haven’t taken a math class in 10 years – I would go ahead and sign up :
“The course is aimed at people
interested in researching social and economic networks, generally
masters and PhD students, as well as faculty and other researchers, but
should also be accessible to advanced undergraduates
and other people who have some prerequisites in mathematics and
statistics. For example, it will be assumed that students are
comfortable with basic concepts from linear algebra (e.g., matrix
multiplication), probability theory (e.g., probability distributions,
expected values, Bayes’ rule), and statistics (e.g., hypothesis
testing), and some light calculus (e.g., differentiation and
integration). Beyond those concepts, the course will be self-contained.”
I am finding the course work itself very
interesting, learning about how different systems run and how we can
represent, understand and predict them. This is all applicable for me at
work where I work in a B2B2C business development team that is looking
to increase its inbound/ long-tail/ organic client acquisition and
retention. Better being able to predict how to influence how networks
are accelerating (or hindering) client and customer growth.
I may have to accept this mission on a
pass/fail basis however as my self-imposed algebra, calculus and
statistics refreshers from my 11th grade classes
is not exactly getting me in MIT. I don’t have time for much writing
at the moment as I am attempting to remember what the f*ck a “log” is
and googling various math symbols.
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