I'm in the middle of "Effective Thinking Through Mathematics"[0]. I struggled with maths in high school, didn't really need it in college (music degree) and went back and tackled it on my own via self-study after college.
The focus of the course is not so much on the maths but the creative process of solving problems that just happen to fall in the ___domain of math. I've found these same techniques to be applicable to more traditional 'creative' pursuits as well (e.g. writing music).
It's also interesting in that you get to watch and deconstruct people's thought process for how they approach challenging problems.
Learning How To Learn by Barbara Oakly on Coursera https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn
It teaches you fundamentals of how the brain works, and how to improve your learning. It is free. Those three factors make it a great first course.
Cryptography I by Dan Boneh on Coursera https://www.coursera.org/learn/crypto
I actually can't recommend it to everyone because I didn't complete it and I just wasn't intelligent enough on the material to complete it. This requires one to be good with advanced maths, and I got migraine issues from this (same as with advanced maths in my youth). However it is very well explained. The problem was me, not Dan Boneh's course.
Positive Psychology by Barbara Fredrickson https://www.coursera.org/learn/positive-psychology
My significant other completed this course (I have not tried it yet), and highly recommends it. Its on my list.
Securing Democracy by J. Alex Halderman
https://www.coursera.org/learn/digital-democracy
I thought I was interested in this subject, and I was to some extend, but I was not enough interested to follow the course to the end. However the course as far as I took it was excellent.
Terrorism and Counterterrorism: Comparing Theory and Practice by Edwin Bakker
https://www.coursera.org/learn/terrorism
I didn't complete this course either but it was interesting and good nonetheless.
There are just a few of the courses I can recommend, and it doesn't contain the one I'm currently one because I haven't completed it yet (will likely include it once completed). There's also courses I cannot recommend (it also depends on the audience). I will resort to the positive angle though wink.
One thing I got from the courses is that it is OK to not complete a course. You can regard it as time waste which is fair enough. My goal is not to get a certificate though. That's merely a byproduct. My goal is to learn (which is a process), to satisfy my taste for knowledge. However Coursera changed its terms of usage last years and ever since I used the platform less.
I started the EdX MicroMasters in International Law last week and it's very interesting. I'm getting an inkling of what legal reasoning feels like from the inside. So far, it seems like really, really careful reading and reasoning. In preparation for the course I was reading a textbook on the same but the readings and video transcripts are as good on the topics they cover, though less exhaustive. It's given me a very slightly less Realist take on International Relations for one.
I started that one and feel like the format doesn't take much advantage of the medium: the videos are very much like traditional lectures. Of course being free is an immense plus, but then so are many books.
Specifically, I take issue with NG's foreign accent. That's just me looking for a reason, but it's the second time after Agarwal on MITx (and that wanted me to purchase his book). Also, I can already record lectures and play them back at will, only I have to leave the house for that. Besides that, these courses were rather classical university courses, it seems.
My gripe is, the videos are too long and my attention span too short. The first 2 weeks I could even pass just from what I learned reading HN, so I suppose I really prefer the socratic method instead of frontal education. Many would claim I was simply lazy and they'd be right, alas also derogitory.
note to myself: otoh, paying a fee for the effort to run a course is most reasonable if the value added comes in form of a book to keep. Actually that's what I am missing in those courses, where instructors don't provide even scripts.
