In August, we launched Live2Coursera to help instructors quickly move online by integrating Zoom lectures into their private courses and content libraries on Coursera. While this helped address the initial challenge of transitioning instruction online, internet connectivity and access to devices still impede learning for many students.
Today, we’re excited to announce that Live2Coursera is coming soon to the Zoom application marketplace unveiled today at Zoomtopia. The free Live2Coursera Zapp helps reduce the digital divide in higher ed by offering flexible viewing and download options—instructors will be able to teach remotely with confidence, knowing that all of their students can access their lectures anytime, anywhere.
Instructors can enable the Live2Coursera Zapp to easily record, share, and upload their Zoom lectures to Coursera. Students can view lecture recordings within Zoom or download recorded lectures from Coursera via mobile or PC in the format best suited to their bandwidth—high resolution video, low data video, or audio-only.
Using the Live2Coursera Zapp:
Instructors can access the Live2Coursera for Zoom application (Zapp) directly in the Zoom environment.
Before recording, instructors should fill out the email and video title fields. Instructors can also check the box next to “Email video to everyone invited to this meeting” to automatically send an email to students containing a link to the recorded lecture on Coursera.
Once instructors are ready to begin recording their lecture, they can click on “Start recording to Coursera.” After the lecture is finished, the video link can be shared directly with students via email or within Zoom.
In Zoom, learners can access “Recently added” videos and watch directly in Zoom.
Through the shareable URL, they can view the video online on Coursera or download it for offline viewing on mobile or PC.
When downloading a lecture video, learners can choose from several download options, including high resolution video, low data video, or audio-only.
We are excited to team up with Zoom to help instructors create inclusive and accessible online learning for all students.
Sign up to be notified when the Live2Coursera Zapp is available for download here.
The pandemic has been a catalyst for universities to make online learning core to the student experience. In March, we launched the Campus Response Initiative to give students and faculty free access to Coursera for Campus during pandemic-related closures. Since then, we have grown from 30 universities using Coursera for Campus to over 3,700, serving more than 2.4 million students who have enrolled in 21.4 million courses worldwide. As the crisis persists, higher education continues to face unprecedented challenges.
Today, we are announcing long-term free versions of Coursera for Campus and upgraded features to address the mission-critical needs of higher education institutions globally. These new features allow universities to deliver academic integrity for credit-bearing online learning, improve student employability, and author private courses.
With three offerings, Coursera for Campus is committed to supporting students and institutions in every stage of online learning:
The Student plan gives every university student free access to unlimited Guided Projects for hands-on learning and one course annually*. Like all learners on the Coursera platform, students can gain job-relevant skills at their own pace with mobile and offline access. They will also have access to the online help center.
The Basic plan provides up to 20,000 free student licenses to every university. Every license includes access to unlimited Guided Projects and one course annually*. This long-term free offering includes basic plagiarism deterrence features and access to the online help center.
The Institution plan provides unlimited Guided Projects and unlimited course enrollments for each student license. It also enables universities to author, grade, and manage for-credit online learning programs with enhanced academic integrity.
The upgraded features of Coursera for Campus enable universities to:
Deliver credit-bearing online learning with advanced academic integrity features
As universities look to build long-term online learning programs for students, they must ensure their experience meets the academic rigor of campus learning. Coursera for Campus now offers academic integrity features that enable universities to deliver credit-bearing online learning.
Faculty can now administer secure, high-stakes exams and detect plagiarism in assignments on Coursera for Campus. It supports online proctoring with integrations like ProctorU and allows exams to be timed and scheduled. Over the next few months, Coursera will enhance exam security with third-party ID verification tools. For assignments, integrations with tools like Turnitin auto-detect plagiarism for both students and graders. Students can check their Similarity Score before submitting an assignment. Faculty can view all suspected and confirmed plagiarism incidents in Gradebooks.The platform also supports plagiarism deterrence by disabling URL sharing and copying of peer reviews.
Question Banks make it easy to author rigorous, custom assessments at scale. Faculty can create assessments with any combination of auto-graded multiple choice and manually-graded essay questions. They can privately author questions and randomize them based on learning objective and difficulty level. This feature will roll out widely by the end of the year.
Improve student employability with job-relevant learning
The pandemic has placed enormous pressure on job opportunities, and students need to graduate with high-demand skills to gain employment. Using Coursera for Campus, universities can help students gain marketable skills with Professional Certificates from industry educators like Google, IBM, Facebook, Intuit, Salesforce, and Amazon. Launched in March, Guided Projects give students hands-on experience with tools like Python, SQL, HTML, Jupyter Notebooks, Java, R, Tensorflow, and Google Analytics. Students can learn these skills in under two hours and apply them in interviews and on-the-job.
Skills development analytics in Coursera for Campus can help faculty track student progress and close employability skills gaps. They can also use skill-based Academieson Coursera to help students develop skill sets required for specific job roles.
Build blended online learning programs with ready-made courses and private authoring tools
With online learning now core to the student experience, universities need an effective way to create and curate high-quality online curricula. In addition to 4,200 ready-made online courses from leading universities and companies, faculty now have access to the same powerful authoring platform as Coursera’s university content partners. They can efficiently build custom courses, hands-on projects, assessments, and even embed Zoom recordings with Live2Coursera. Strategies and resources for effective online teaching are also available on the Coursera Teaching Center.
Over the coming months, Coursera will roll out a new curriculum tool that will help faculty curate Coursera content to fill curriculum gaps, teach new specialties, and focus programs on specific disciplines or difficulty levels.
Coursera for Campus also offers administrative tools and LMS integrations that allow faculty to manage the end-to-end student experience in one platform. Student scores are auto-tracked in Gradebooks and custom filter analytics are available to drive performance insights. Faculty can also auto-enroll students in custom course sequences with fixed scheduling capabilities coming next year.
Bridge the digital divide with mobile learning that can be downloaded and viewed offline
Coursera for Campus helps universities equally serve students, including those with limited connectivity, bandwidth, and devices. 70% of Coursera for Campus students used a mobile device for their learning during the pandemic. With mobile and offline learning, students can download courses, synchronize progress and quizzes, take notes with highlights, and calendar sync – all optimized for low data consumption. The platform also includes digital-first engagement tools to maximize learning effectiveness like bite-size videos, in-browser programming assignments, and Guided Projects for hands-on learning.
“The pandemic has been a punctuation moment in higher education. Faced with unprecedented urgency, educators are working hard to prepare for the ‘new normal’ of blended learning. At the peak of disruption, Coursera for Campus allowed us to serve impacted students of our Kunshan campus. We are excited to see it launch new features that are critical to providing academically rigorous and job-relevant online learning that both faculty and students would find valuable.” –Matthew Rascoff, Duke University Associate Vice Provost for Digital Education and Innovation
Higher education institutions worldwide have used Coursera for Campus to enable continuous learning, offer supplemental content to their degree programs, and prepare students for jobs and internships. Among them are leading institutions like Duke University, University of Michigan, Johnson C. Smith University, Africa Nazarene University, Southampton University, IIM-Udaipur, Symbiosis Institute of Technology, and Colegio de Estudios Superiores de Administración.
“We chose Coursera to strengthen our existing course offering, infuse work skills into all elements of our teaching, expand our offering in the domains of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data literacy and be a global education brand. We’ve had outstanding training and support from Coursera in onboarding students. In just four weeks, more than 1,100 students have enrolled in over 4,400 courses.” –Dr. Stanley Makhosi Bhebhe, Africa Nazarene University Vice-Chancellor
“The pandemic disrupted the education system world over. While most educational institutions were not prepared for the challenge, identifying its impact early on, we devised a digital strategy and partnered with Coursera to take advantage of a wide variety of courses available on the platform. Coursera for Campus has enabled us to offer our students the most relevant high-quality content across topics, complementing their knowledge and skills for the new job market.” –Professor Janat Shah, IIM-Udaipur Director
The resilience that universities and students have shown during these challenging times is inspiring to all of us. With today’s launch, we are taking bold steps in enabling universities to create a more inclusive and job-relevant higher education experience for everyone.
“My name is Dr Meenu Poonia. I’m an international gold medalist in ju jitsu and I also play cricket at the national level. I work as an assistant manager at the Jaipur Central Co Operative Bank in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. I am also a writer and I have written almost ten books in Hindi. I have four postgraduate degrees from Rajasthan University.”
How did you learn about Alison?
Through the Alison Facebook page.
What was your first course on Alison, and why did you choose it?
To relax, I like reading books. Books are my best friend.
Where are you working/what are you studying now?
I am working as an assistant manager in the Jaipur Central Co Operative Bank. I am also in my final year of studying my fourth postgraduate degree (in Public Administration) I have already completed three postgraduate degrees in English literature, Hindi literature and Sociology.
What’s next for you, in terms of education or work?
I plan to keep studying on a regular basis and to eventually complete 200 Alison courses. I have already completed 138 Alison courses!
What would you say to someone if they asked you about Alison? Would you recommend it and why?
Absolutely, I recommend Alison because it’s a very important platform for online study.
My name is Joseph Adonu. I come from Ghana in west Africa. I have both Plumbing Craft and Advanced Plumbing Craft Certificates. I was a Plumbing Instructor at both Accra Technical Training Center and the National Vocational Training Institute from 2009-2010 and 2010-2012 respectively. I learned about Alison on the internet and the first course I took with Alison was the Diploma in Plumbing Studies.
What’s your favourite way to relax from studying?
Sleeping and watching football.
Where are you working and what are you studying now?
I’m currently working at the Ghana Cocoa Board and I’m not studying anything at the moment.
What’s next for you, in terms of education or work?
I would like to continue studying Plumbing up to master’s level.
What would you say to someone if they asked you about Alison? Would you recommend it and why?
Alison courses are practical and build you up your professional experience so that, in the end, it’s not just a certificate that you take away. Alison trains you practically and I would recommend it without hesitation.
“My name is Anish Rifa. I’m currently studying for my undergraduate degree in Food Science and Nutrition in Avinashilingam University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. I have two siblings and I’m the first graduate from my family.”
What was your first course on Alison, and why did you choose it?
My first course on Alison was the Diploma in Food Safety. I chose this Food Safety course because it related to the subject I’m currently studying in university and I needed some additional information on food.
What’s your favourite way to relax from studying?
Listening to music.
If you could learn absolutely anything in the world from an Alison course, what would it be?
What would you say to someone if they asked you about Alison? Would you recommend it and why?
Absolutely, I would recommend Alison because it offers vast knowledge and is very informative. The course syllabuses are excellent. With Alison, you can always gain more knowledge on your preferred subject.
Interested in learning more about what software engineers do? By definition, software engineers build digital products, database programs, and computer systems for businesses by applying different kinds of programming languages to user-focused applications.
But to give you a better picture of what it’s like to work as a software engineer, we spoke with Xavier, a Senior Software Engineer here at Codecademy. Xavier works on our Conversion team, which is responsible for improving the experience for learners that visit the Codecademy site for the first time.
In our interview, Xavier talks about some of the common misconceptions about working as a software engineer, and the difference between programmers, developers, and engineers. Plus, he shares what he loves most about his job in software engineering. Check out the video interview below and then read on to learn more.
What do software engineers do?
Many people believe that software engineers just sit in front of a computer and write lines of code for eight hours every day. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Xavier tells us:
Most developers create applications with the user experience in mind. Behind the scenes, they have to juggle multiple software projects and consult with their coworkers on how things should be done instead of just coding the entire time.
Software engineers work in collaboration with designers, data scientists, and project managers to figure out how to best create and support their processes and projects. They’re also generally in charge of reviewing other people’s code, meeting with team members, and doing a healthy amount of research.
Another important part of the job is identifying what the client needs, designing a prototype of the product, and developing a functional piece of software. After that, they have to run tests on the software to see if there are any existing bugs to remove. The final product is then released and made available to end-users.
You could say it’s a group effort — software engineers collaborate with project managers, UI/UX designers, data scientists, and subject-matter experts every step of the way. Of course, we can’t overlook the interpersonal aspects, either, such as training developers to debug software or asking users to test apps for them.
What is the difference between a software engineer, programmer, and web developer?
If you’re thinking about a job in coding, you’ve likely seen a variety of titles for roles in the field — software engineer, programmer, web developer. There’s definitely a lot of overlap between these roles.
As Xavier mentions, you may find, during your job search and throughout your career journey, that some companies will use different names to refer to the same roles. For instance, some companies will refer to their programmers as web developers or front-end engineers, while others prefer to call them software or UI engineers.
There are a few ways to spot the differences among software engineer, web developer, and programmer roles.
Web developers are focused on creating browser apps with a combination of client-side and server-side programming languages. Generally speaking, they are involved in designing interactive websites and building user-facing applications.
Software engineers are more likely to work on computer systems as a whole. They develop standalone programs and apps to help users perform various activities. For the most part, they program, document, test, and maintain software by utilizing the best practices in DevOps.
Although their job descriptions may slightly differ, they do still fall under the same development umbrella.
The only real distinction you have to make is the one between front-end and back-end programming — whether you’re designing surface-level UI and user-centric applications or running hidden processes inside a database server.
But no matter what your title, Xavier says, “At the end of the day, we’re all trying to solve business problems with code.” Software engineers, programmers, and web developers are all solving challenging, real-world problems using programming languages.
Why being a software engineer is rewarding
We asked Xavier about what he loves about his job as a software engineer and about coding. He shared three things — the flow state he gets into when coding, the way that code helps to solve real-world problems, and fact that there’s a lot of demand for software engineers.
The flow state
Xavier shared that one of his favorite things is the flow state he gets into while coding. “When you’re coding, you’re thinking of very abstract, hard problems and you don’t have time to think about other things. You become hyper-focused on the task at hand, and it’s just a very empowering, very creative pursuit.”
You’re improving the world
“By writing code, you’re actually solving real problems in the world,” says Xavier.
It’s hard to see when you’re in the code — you’re just in that flow state, having fun. But as soon as you’re done, you’re putting that code out there and you’re solving a very complicated business problem for millions of people. There’s a lot you can do with tech, and code in particular, when it comes to having an impact on the world.
There’s a ton of demand for it
Finally, Xavier shares that he likes that there’s a lot of demand for software. “I can support myself and my family for years to come, based on the skills that I’ve learned.”
The job outlook for software engineers is quite promising, due to an increasing demand for technology solutions. They are highly sought after by companies for their systematic approach to software development, where every product must fulfill the needs of the client.
Advice for budding software engineers
Considering a career in software engineering? We asked Xavier if he had any advice for those that are just starting out. His biggest piece of advice is to take initiative:
In school you learn to do things the way your teacher might tell you how to do them. But, in business, there’s no one telling you how to do things.
I would encourage people to take initiative in finding solutions to problems they’re not even asked to find; to take initiative in reaching out to people; to feel confident in asking a lot of questions. Try to take initiative in everything you do. The opportunities will find you if you reach out and try to solve different problems for different people.
If Xavier’s interview was inspiring to you, a career in software engineering may be in your future! Our Web Development Career Path is designed to give you all the skills you need to get started. Learn more and get started here.
Good news! We’re updating our Web Development offerings with the creation of three new Career Paths.
Why?
The world of web development is constantly changing and it can often feel daunting to understand what one should learn. The good news is that Codecademy is updating our offerings to match best practices and industry-favorite technologies!
We will be adding three brand new Paths to our catalog: Full-Stack Engineer, Front-End Engineer, and Back-End Engineer. These new Paths will replace the existing Web Development Career Path and usher in a new approach to learning in the Web Development domain.
These paths are full of brand new projects, articles, and curated resources — including books and documentation — to introduce and scaffold important concepts in web development. We’re releasing a brand-new content type: the Portfolio Project, which can help you move off the Codecademy platform and develop a portfolio that will make you stand out to prospective employers. Additionally, we’ve added new interview preparation material to make sure you’re ready for when you start applying to jobs. Finally, we’ve integrated contextual items to clarify what you’re covering in each unit and how it relates to your overall Career Path journey.
How does this impact you?
If you’ve already started or completed the Web Development Path, you will still be able to access the path from the ‘My Courses’ tab on the dashboard. However, it will no longer be accessible from the Catalog. You won’t lose progress on the coursework that you’ve completed and will be able to continue and finish the Path.
If you’re interested in enrolling in one of our new Paths, you’ll find that any progress you had in the Web Development Path will be carried over — no need to start from scratch! However, you may notice that your overall progress percentage has decreased, as there is more content included in the new Paths.
When?
The Full-Stack Engineer and Front-End Engineer Paths will be added to the catalog on Tuesday, October 20, 2020. Around this time the Web Development Path will be taken off the catalog, but will continue to be available to learners who have already started it.
The Back-End Engineer Path will be added to the catalog on Friday, October 23, 2020.
Take a look below to get an overview of the updates.
New Content in the Career Paths
New content covering:
Semantic HTML and Semantic CSS
Deploying websites with GitHub Pages
CSS animations
CSS Flexbox
React Hooks
Redux
Deploying web apps to Netlify
PostgreSQL databases
Relational database design
Database optimization, performance, and monitoring
Connecting a front-end to back-end
Sequelize ORM
Overview of operating systems
Design and development principles
Software architecture
Web security practices
OAuth
Cookies and JWTs
Enterprise software development
Agile Methodologies
Caching & CDNs
CI/CD
Containerization
Deploying full-stack applications with Heroku
Advanced test-driven development with Selenium
Data structures and algorithms (JavaScript implementations)
Interview Skills
Open-ended Portfolio Projects:
Mixed Messages (JavaScript, Node.js)
Personal Portfolio Website (HTML, CSS, JavaScript)
Reddit Clone (React, Redux)
E-Commerce Site (Node.js, Express.js, React, PostgreSQL)
Personal Budgeting App (Node.js, Express.js, PostgreSQL)
Curated resources throughout:
Books
Documentation
Videos
Tutorials
Articles
Recap
We’re adding three new Career Paths in the Web Development Domain and removing the old Web Development Career Path. The new Paths now include new content, cover additional important topics, and make sure to reinforce all of that learning with engaging cumulative projects.
Good news! We’re updating the Data Science Career Path to a new and improved Data Scientist Career Path.
Why?
Data science is all about using data to identify pathways to improvement — and our data science content is no exception! We took a hard look at our Data Science Career Path and identified several ways we could make the new Data Scientist Career Path a better experience for you.
We’re adding several projects, articles, and curated resources — including books and documentation — to introduce and scaffold important concepts in data science. The Python unit has all-new projects focused on real-world data science problems. We’re releasing a brand-new content type: the Portfolio Project, which can help you move off the Codecademy platform and develop a portfolio that will make you stand out to prospective employers. Additionally, we’ve rearranged some of the content so that it better reflects the data science workflow. Finally, we’ve integrated connective tissue to clarify what you’re covering in each unit and how it relates to your overall Data Scientist Career Path journey.
How does this impact you?
If you’ve already started or completed the Data Science Path, you will see some new content added to the Path.
You won’t lose progress on the coursework that you’ve already completed; however, you may notice that your overall progress percentage has decreased, as there is a greater amount of content included in the improved Path.
When?
The Path will be added to the catalog on Tuesday, October 14, 2020.
Take a look below to get an overview of the updates.
Updates in the Data Scientist Career Path
New content covering:
Introduction to Data Science
The Data Science Process
Data Science Applications
Introducing Jupyter Notebook
Setting up Jupyter Notebook
Getting Started with Jupyter
Getting More out of Jupyter Notebook
Getting Started with Git and GitHub Desktop
Python Strings
Python Classes
Python Modules
Python Files
Data Acquisition
Relational Databases for Data Science/Analysis
Python with Databases
What Are NumPy and Pandas
Introduction to Data Wrangling and Tidying
The Central Limit Theorem
Introduction To Hypothesis Testing
Best Practices for Data Visualization
Communicating Data Science Findings
Text Preprocessing
Tf-idf
Word Embeddings
Principal Component Analysis
What Is Deep Learning?
The Dangers of the Black Box
Python projects focused on real-world medical insurance data:
Python Syntax
Python Functions
Python Control Flow
Python Lists
Python Loops
Python Strings
Python Dictionaries
Python Classes
Open-ended Portfolio Projects:
Python
Data Visualization
Data Analysis
Machine Learning
Final Portfolio Project
Curated resources throughout:
Books
Documentation
Videos
Tutorials
Articles
Removing some less relevant and repetitive content:
Note: Although this content is being removed from our Data Scientist Path, it will still be available in other Paths and courses at the following links.
Recap
We’re updating our Data Scientist Career Path so that it’s an even better learning experience. Starting on October 20, 2020, it will cover additional important topics and makes sure to reinforce all of that learning with engaging cumulative projects.
Employees will still want to go into the office, Ms. Pinkham said, only less frequently and for more specific reasons. To adapt, the company plans to schedule certain teams for the same shifts so they can see their colleagues and whiteboard ideas together, she said, albeit while wearing masks in more sparsely populated conference rooms.
“It may become more of an intentional behavior,” Ms. Pinkham said of going to the office, “versus an ‘I just wake up and go to the office because that’s what I do’ behavior.”
It is an idea that will make the tech office, once the ersatz home away from home, more like a hotel.
Last week, the Broadway League announced that its theaters would be closed until at least May 30. But on Sunday, two dozen shielded performers, including Bernadette Peters and Andrew Rannells, surprised passers-by in Times Square with a rendition of Stephen Sondheim’s “Sunday” — an effort to create a “moment of joy” to counteract the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
What does Broadway mean to you? Have you ever seen a show there? What was the experience like? If you haven’t, tell us about another live-performance experience you have had that was memorable. How have you been getting your theater fix during the pandemic?
Let us know in the comments, then read the related article to learn more.
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