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Comment by redsymbol | Hacker News Reader

At first I could not find a way to sign up without paying - when I click enroll, I didn't see the audit link that Sjenk and others mention.

The trick is that the audit link only appears when you sign up for the individual course, not the entire sequence. So if you go to this link:

https://www.coursera.org/specializations/deep-learning

... and click "Enroll", you can only proceed by supplying payment info. However, if you scroll down to that page to the box titled "Course 1", at the bottom of that box is a link "You can choose to take this course only. Learn More".

Click on THAT to go to the individual course page. Then, click Enroll, and in the first box that pops up, you'll see the link "Or audit this course" in the lower left.

This allowed me to sign up for all five without supplying payment info.

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But you can't submit exercises.

https://learner.coursera.help/hc/en-us/articles/209818613-En...

When you audit a course:

- You'll be able to see most of the course materials for free, but you won't be able to submit certain assignments or get grades for your work.

- You won't be able to submit assignments for feedback or a grade.

- You won't get a Course Certificate.

Ugh, Coursera has gone way downhill.

Its a business, do you not expect them to somehow collect revenue on products they have created?

The basic problem is that Coursera wasn't successful in attaching some meaningful value to their certificates as credentials. And, if the credential isn't meaningful, why on earth would I want to pay a VC-funded company for a PDF that has zero value to me? Taking the course may be worthwhile but a certificate adds essentially nothing to that.

So now they've effectively eliminated just about the only thing that distinguishes them from some YouTube videos and a textbook.

The basic problem is that Coursera wasn't successful in attaching some meaningful value to their certificates as credentials.

The EdX solution to this is that their courses are all endorsed or run by brick-and-mortar universities with considerable investments in their brand that they won't want to tarnish by attaching it to any random certificate.

I'm not sure to what degree EdX has really "solved" this. My impression is there's quite of range of quality and rigor on EdX as well. And, more centrally, most people still don't see EdX certificates as general substitutes for more conventional educational degrees.

Not a degree sure but many e.g. XSeries and MicroMasters are at the level of diplomas.

They've created the courses? Seems to me like it's the professors teaching them that created them. What value is Coursera adding?

when they start for free, there's hope they aren't just trying to beat the competition with discount prices.

I wish I could figure out what the actual price is. I'm logged in and all I see is "Enroll free!". The only pricing disclosed is $49/month. Courses 1-3 are 9 weeks, so does that mean it costs about $100? (No lengths on courses 4 and 5 yet.)

To add to that, I couldn't make it work following these steps, but logging out and following the steps above worked for me. Thanks.

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