COURSERA IN THE SCHOOL OF IT OF TALTECH
In January 2023, the IT School of Tallinn University of Technology signed a two-year contract with the online learning platform Coursera for 500 user licenses. This means that each license user can take an unlimited number of courses. The courses are intended for enrolled students and can be used for both School of IT study programmes and courses taught within them, as well as directly by IT School’s students. Students from other faculties who participate in a School of IT study programme or course can also take part in the courses. Below are more details on each of these three options.
You have the opportunity to open the entire Coursera course catalogue or only the courses selected by you and/or instructors for your students within the Coursera framework programme that corresponds to your curriculum. These courses can be related to subjects in the curriculum (e.g. as a part of or substitute for them) or not. In the latter case, they can be counted as electives in the curriculum if the student's VÕTA-based credit transfer application is approved by the programme manager.
As a programme manager, you are the Coursera framework programme administrator associated with your curriculum, and therefore you can shape the programme, invite and manage learners, and obtain usage statistics and other analytics related to your programme. There are various ways to configure the aforementioned framework programme - it can be based on courses (academic years), specializations, majors, modules, etc. To create a Coursera framework programme associated with your curriculum, write to the Coursera contact person at the School of IT (kristjan.rebane@taltech.ee).
You can use Coursera content in your courses through both the Coursera web platform and TalTech's Moodle. On the Coursera platform, it is possible to bring up the Coursera courses related to the curriculum in the framework programme, and the results of completing these courses can be shared between the programme manager who manages this framework programme and the lecturer.
In TalTech's Moodle, you can link a Coursera course to your course and choose to include only selected parts, with results (both for the course and its components) that can be imported into Moodle and linked to the evaluation of the course in question. To start using Coursera content in your course, contact your study programme’s programme manager.
For integrating Coursera content into your subject’s Moodle page, please see a step-by-step guide in TalTech’s wiki
Your teacher may use Coursera materials in your TalTech course. In case your lecturer has integrated content from Coursera into the subject’s Moodle page, then you can get started using this guide. However, if you wish to take Coursera courses independently, it depends on whether your study programme’s programme manager has set up the framework programme in Coursera so that the entire Coursera course catalogue is available or only a limited selection. In the latter case, you can ask the programme manager to add the desired course to the selection - this decision is up to the programme manager. In both cases the programme manager can share the invitation to Coursera via email or as a unique web address (URL) individually or to a specific group.
In addition, students of the School of IT have access to the Coursera framework programme “TalTech School of IT General Programme” where they can choose from the recommended courses aimed at developing general skills (such as time management, study skills, project management, creative writing, etc.) or choose from the entire course catalogue of Coursera. This programme can be accessed using a Coursera account with a taltech.ee email address through a special web address (URL), which was distributed to faculty’s students in the April newsletter (or can be asked from the School of IT Coursera contact person: kristjan.rebane@taltech.ee).
Please note!
- Note that in order to join the TalTech programme on Coursera, you must create a user account with a taltech.ee email address (if you have not done so already). A personal email address can be listed as secondary in the account settings. If you have an existing account with a personal email address, you can connect it to a new account using a taltech.ee email address to keep all completed courses in one place by contacting Coursera support.
Access to the Coursera account will remain available through the personal email address, including all results from courses completed within the TalTech programme, even after the license has expired or access to the taltech.ee email account has ended assuming the account using taltech.ee e-mail address has been previously connected to the account using personal e-mail address. - The licenses are valid within the semester, meaning that the licenses for the fall semester will be deleted by the end of the fall semester (usually in the second half of January according to the academic calendar), and the licenses for the spring semester will be deleted on August 1st following that semester. Deleting the license does not erase the information about completed courses on the user's Coursera account - they will remain on the user's Coursera account.
- It is recommended to schedule your Coursera course studies in such a way that the course is completed and the result is achieved by the expiration of the license. For courses that take place on specific dates, it is advisable to take into account their end time to make sure it falls within the validity period of the license for the fall or spring semester.
If you are from outside of TalTech’s School of IT
If you are interested in taking Coursera courses outside of TalTech’s School of IT, the School is willing and interested in sharing this opportunity with others based on your curriculum or School's dean's request. Ask your curriculum manager or dean to contact the School of IT's Coursera contact person (kristjan.rebane@taltech.ee) to agree on the details of creating this opportunity.
