Top university offers free "degree" on alien life

Well this is interesting and considering its a free online course may be worth enrolling!

Edinburgh University will join an elite US higher education consortium in providing free online courses – including one on the search for extraterrestrial life.

Top university offers free degree on alien life

It does not start until next January but is free to anybody worldwide, you can find course info here"

Course info

I'm signing up, as one commenter stated:

Degree courses are only created if there is to be a potential employment market in that field.... I think we are moving ever closer to a momentous announcement!!

Lets hope so!

Dave

I have just signed up, it looks interesting.

Week 1: What is life and what are the definitions of life? What do we know about the origin of life and what are the current hypotheses for how it originated on the Earth?
Week 2: What was the environment of early Earth like when life first emerged and what do we know about life on the earliest Earth? How did life evolve to cope with survival in extreme environments? What have been the major evolutionary transitions of life on the Earth?
Week 3: What are the prospects for life on other planetary bodies in our Solar System and how do we go about searching for it? What conditions are required for a planet to be habitable?
Week 4: How do we search for Earth-like planets orbiting distant stars and how would we detect life on them?
Week 5: What are the possibilities for intelligent life elsewhere? How would be deal with contact with an extraterrestrial intelligence and what would be the impact on society? Who would represent Earth?

If nothing else it will pull together a lot of like minded people during discussions each week, im sure that it will have its share of die hard believers and skeptics alike!

Let me know if you sign up!

Dave

Sorry, but this doesn't appear to be a degree equivalent course and therefore the title of this thread becomes a misleading one.

Will I get a certificate after completing this class?

Yes. Students who successfully complete the class will receive a certificate signed by the instructor.

Seems all you'll get is a piece of autographed paper stating that you participated in the class but will NOT be a recognized degree/diploma/etc. So while from an informative point of view the class will be interesting, the end result is that you don't obtain any qualifications that you can put on a resume.

How can you get a degree on something that so far hasn't been proven to exist, i.e alien life? Do you think some 'professors of aliens' if they are any professors at all know about secret Alien Bases and UFOs? Go fishy fishy, give em your money!

reply to post by tauristercus


OMG
Not my title, read the source please and you will see where the title comes from.

Originally posted by Imtor
How can you get a degree on something that so far hasn't been proven to exist, i.e alien life? Do you think some 'professors of aliens' if they are any professors at all know about secret Alien Bases and UFOs? Go fishy fishy, give em your money!

Read the article, its a free online course.
Why do people feel the need to comment without reading content first?

Sheesh

reply to post by waveydavey


Still, this makes it even less credible. If you think that someone for free will give you any top secret knowledge not known by anyone. I am sure it was posted with the idea that you would learn some secrets if you were in it.

Originally posted by waveydavey
reply to post by tauristercus

 

OMG
Not my title, read the source please and you will see where the title comes from.

I would agree with your title IF you posted this under "Breaking News" where you're expected to provide the ORIGINAL article description ... but you didn't.
Therefore YOU should have, after reading the article, decided that the original article title was misleading and should have chosen a more appropriate (and factual) title for your thread.

Originally posted by Imtor
reply to post by waveydavey

 

Still, this makes it even less credible. If you think that someone for free will give you any top secret knowledge not known by anyone. I am sure it was posted with the idea that you would learn some secrets if you were in it.

I don't think for one minute that i would find any top secret info??
It would be interesting non-the less.

Originally posted by tauristercus

Originally posted by waveydavey
reply to post by tauristercus

 

OMG
Not my title, read the source please and you will see where the title comes from.

I would agree with your title IF you posted this under "Breaking News" where you're expected to provide the ORIGINAL article description ... but you didn't.
Therefore YOU should have, after reading the article, decided that the original article title was misleading and should have chosen a more appropriate (and factual) title for your thread.

Seriously??
If your not here to offer any constructive comments beyond nit picking please move on.

I've amended the thread title which will hopefully keep all parties happy. Can we now move on to the actual topic?

Thank you.

reply to post by Gemwolf


Thank you!

Dave

Originally posted by tauristercus
Sorry, but this doesn't appear to be a degree equivalent course and therefore the title of this thread becomes a misleading one.

Will I get a certificate after completing this class?

Yes. Students who successfully complete the class will receive a certificate signed by the instructor.

Seems all you'll get is a piece of autographed paper stating that you participated in the class but will NOT be a recognized degree/diploma/etc. So while from an informative point of view the class will be interesting, the end result is that you don't obtain any qualifications that you can put on a resume.

edit on 18/7/12 by tauristercus because: (no reason given)

You know you can put whatever you want on your resume, they are not regulated by law, this could go on a resume as an extra-professional interest.

I'm interested, I think I might sign up. It's probably a course on what the current "top-guns" in the field think.

Seems interesting, i signed up!
More knowledge on the matter never hurts aye?
Besides, there seem to be lot of other interesting courses too so Thanks for the link Davey!

reply to post by zoomer72


Exactly! Its free so all it will cost you is your time, I'm personally looking forward to it!
Whatever the content it will be interesting IMHO.

i have signed up but i cant find it on the info on it? can any one ells find it on there?


found it thanks

Totally signed up.

It has always been a dream of mine to have dozens of completely useless certifications and credentials hanging in my office that have absolutely nothing to do with my career.

Maybe one day I'll break a "useless cert" record and go on speaking tours and sit as a guest on some basic cable TV show talking about my random and worthless expertise.

So awesome.

Anymore crazy certs out there? Preferably free.

I almost went to that paranormal school in Kentucky but it was too expensive to be funny.

Maybe an online paranormal cert?

reply to post by Imtor

How can you get a degree on something that so far hasn't been proven to exist, i.e alien life? Do you think some 'professors of aliens' if they are any professors at all know about secret Alien Bases and UFOs? Go fishy fishy, give em your money!

Isn't this the same as someone signing up for a degree in Divinity or Theology. God has not been proven to exist but yet people believe. So, not sure where you are going with this.

Originally posted by thisguyrighthere
Totally signed up.

It has always been a dream of mine to have dozens of completely useless certifications and credentials hanging in my office that have absolutely nothing to do with my career.

Maybe one day I'll break a "useless cert" record and go on speaking tours and sit as a guest on some basic cable TV show talking about my random and worthless expertise.

So awesome.

Anymore crazy certs out there? Preferably free.

I almost went to that paranormal school in Kentucky but it was too expensive to be funny.

Maybe an online paranormal cert?

go one the course list theres loads lol

Originally posted by birdyat101

go one the course list theres loads lol

I checked the list and most of them are either bland or actually useful like programming languages or philosophy.

I'm looking for insane stuff like this:exopoliticsinstitute.org... but free or at least cheaper.

Being an exopolitics expert sounds awesome but not $1500 awesome.