My own Frankenstein's monster?? Part 1 Hacking Higher Education

This post title is a bit misleading but true none the less.  Over the years I have always been quick to give advice but never take my own so in a sense I am Doctor Frankenstein and the monster.  Hopefully my results will be a bit better and I will not turn into a misunderstood creature.  With this new feature of SCU I will use myself as the so called crash test dummy and see if my own advice is good or just blowing smoke. 

Experiment 1  Hacking Higher Education

Hacking higher education sounds like I am going to tell you how to lie and cheat your way to a degree right?  Not at all but I will tell you of a way to take classes for little or no money.  I was a dumbass when I dropped out of college when I got my first full time job I had taken seven classes in accounting working at getting an associates degree.  Now with that being said I have been working in banking and finance one way or another for the past sixteen years but I have always regretted not finishing my degree and taking the easy way out.  Now I plan on making up for that my way.

Last month I was up late doing some research like a good Dr Frankenstein when I came across a website called edX.  EdX offers open coursework from some of the best Institutions of Higher learning in the world with many of the classes offerd for free or a small nominal fee.  With many of the courses you have the option to audit the course or try for a certificate using the honor system.  I opted to enroll in Introduction to Computer Science as offered by Harvard Extension for someone like me just getting back into classes for the first time in almost twenty years it being self paced.  The only requirement is that you have to complete all twelve lessons by December 31,2014.  I can not wait to get into the first lesson where I will  get to design a simple game or a piece of interactive digital art.

Taking this class is the start of what I hope will be a successful experiment in taking control of my own life.  I also hope to prove the point that higher education can be achieved by anyone no matter how long you have been out of school.  I also want to prove the merit of classes like this added to ones resume do mean something just like any degree or cetificate but only time will tell that.  I will be back over the weekend to rate the first lesson of the class and just maybe I will have another experiment to talk about. Always remember to embrace the "Monster".