Update: Looks like CafeCourses is no more. If you’re looking for an app with similar functionality (although w/o the social networking component), try MyiCourse.com.
Just because you’re no longer in school, that doesn’t mean that you’re done learning. All it means is that you’re now in control of your own education. How can you learn more about topics that interest you? You can go to the library and check out some books, you can sign up for courses at a community college-or you can take an online course through CaféCourses.
Café Courses is a website that lets anyone become a teacher or a student (or both.) Are you an expert in a certain subject? You can sign up and teach a course on it. Do you want to learn more about a specific subject? Sign up and take a course! You can also set up an online profile on CaféCourses, and follow the activities of friends and classmates.
Of course, since anyone can become a teacher (called a “guru” on the site), there’s always the possibility that your course may be taught by someone who has no idea what they are talking about. To weed out clueless gurus, CaféCourses relies on feedback and reviews from people who have taken the course.
Using the site is free, although CaféCourses gives gurus the option of charging a fee for the courses. The user interface is attractive and intuitive, and there is a course creation tutorial available in case you get stuck. I think it would be easier to find courses if they were broken down by category, rather than just tagged, especially as the site grows and more content is added. I like the idea of combining social networking with online learning, too.
CaféCourses has the potential to be an incredibly useful tool, but they need to attract more gurus and students first. At present, the course catalog is a little thin.
What do you think of CaféCourses? Would you be interested in teaching/taking a course there? Do you think the review mechanism will be sufficient to weed out bad courses from self-proclaimed “experts?” Discuss in the comments!
Our Rating of CafeCourses
Categories:web
Tool of the Day: CafeCourses: A Social Learning Community http://bit.ly/k6X8d
CaféCourses – a Social Learning Community: http://bit.ly/k6X8d [UsefulTools]
Retweeting @usefultools: Tool of the Day: CafeCourses: A Social Learning Community http://bit.ly/k6X8d
RT @boalt:Retweeting @usefultools: Tool of the Day: CafeCourses: A Social Learning Community http://bit.ly/k6X8d
RT @usefultools Tool of the Day: CafeCourses: A Social Learning Community http://bit.ly/k6X8d
RT @usefultools Tool of the Day: CafeCourses: A Social Learning Community http://bit.ly/k6X8d
Site is down. Looks like its done, dead, bye-bye, kaput.
It sure does…well, that’s sad. I’ll update the entry-thanks for the heads-up!