Courses - June/July 2025

[smallhobbit]

FutureLearn

Italian for Beginners - Part 4 (Open University)
Much to my surprise I'm finding I'm able to complete the quizzes with fewer mistakes and understanding more, which is encouraging.

What do Popular Songs Mean? (University of Leeds)
Like the previous music course I've done with Leeds Uni, this was aimed at potential music students, which I imagine is only a very limited proportion of those taking FutureLearn courses.  Some things were interesting, some were a reminder of things I learnt on an OpenLearn course; at other times they would teach about analysis, but then when I came to work through an example for myself the answer would come up 'you may think xxx, but in this case yyy applies'.  And in at least one occasion there seemed to be a contradiction between something stated earlier and than later in the course.


OpenLearn

Egyptian Mathematics
I read through the course, but it lacks the presentation of later courses.  It was interesting to see a little about Egyptian mathematics, although very little has survived, probably because most of their maths had to do with practical problems they encountered rather than matters they deemed sufficiently important to save for posterity.

Babylonian Mathematics
Similarly with this course, although there was a small amount that was presumably kept for teaching purposes.  Unlike our modern maths, with a decimal system of counting, the Babylonians worked in 60s, so comparing then and now isn't always easy.

The Science of Nutrition & Healthy Eating
My latest badged course.  Definitely interesting and made me consider what I do eat.  Not sure it will change my diet - but I'm more aware of food labels and what I should be considering.

Comments

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Well done! The mathematics one sound interesting. Good job on your Italian progress.

[smallhobbit]

Thank you. The mathematics ones were reasonably interesting, but could have done with being updated.

[scfrankles]

That's such an interesting range of courses. Congratulations on your continued learning! ^__^

[smallhobbit]

Thank you very much. I do try to mix the subjects up 😀

[aome]

Why on earth did the Babylonians work in 60s??

[smallhobbit]

That I can't ask them - although there is a logic: 60 is divisible by 2, 3, 4 and 5 which makes a lot of fractions easier to work with.

[aome]

Huh. I hadn't thought of that. Interesting!

[rusty_armour]

Kudos for showing improvement in your Italian through that Italian for Beginners course. As someone who has never been good at math, the Egyptian Mathematics and Babylonian Mathematics courses seem rather frightening, though I imagine they would be interesting from a historical perspective. It's good that you've gained some useful knowledge from The Science of Nutrition & Healthy Eating course.

[smallhobbit]

I'm okay at maths and enjoy figures, but didn't follow the intricacies. On the other hand, the course was full of 'we think this was what it meant' as there's very few examples because they weren't deemed important to save.