Several months ago, I enrolled in a Coursera course called Miracles of Human Language: An Introduction to Linguistics. It didn’t go down well.
I chose this course on Coursera because of the platform’s strong reputation and its user-friendly, step-by-step approach. Most of the time, Coursera delivers what it promises—but not this time.
My main motivation for taking the linguistics course was to make up for something I missed out on in college, not having taken any English-related studies. I wanted to educate myself in this interesting thing, which I feel is essential to me as a writer. I’m grateful I got access to the course through my company, Innodata. But because it was company-sponsored, I felt pressured to zhuzh up my performance metrics.
Two weeks in, I found out things were going to go badly. There was a specific problem with one of its tests. (Even the prompt before the test warned that over 85% of people failed it!) Try as I might, I simply couldn’t pass, even after six attempts at that wretched test. Frankly, I don’t have the time or energy for things like this—they’re a waste of time. You can’t beat a robot when it comes to grading; it cannot be reasoned with like a human being.
After several more attempts, I decided to unenroll from the course. I submitted a formal complaint through my company’s designated department, and they assured me they would liaise with Coursera. “Good,” I thought. “No one else should have to go through my ordeal.” My conscience rests because I did my duty.
However, because I unenrolled, my metrics tell a different story: there’s a black mark—I don’t have a perfect score! The perfectionist in me squirms, thrashing around chairs and ranting about the evils of AI.
But who isn’t oppressed by data monitoring nowadays?
“Data be damned,” I said. My biggest disappointment, actually, is missing out on the learning. My original desire was to learn about linguistics, not (just) to earn a certificate. And so, I persisted.
Eventually, I found a new platform, the Virtual Linguistics Campus (VLC), run by a professor I later connected with on LinkedIn. I took VLC’s introductory linguistics course and, yesterday, finally completed what I started. Got that brand-spanking-new certification I needed—or rather, so badly wanted.
Reflecting further on my experience, I’m amazed at the opportunities for learning available online today. I was able to pursue my pet project even now in my 40s. Truly, if you’re determined to get something, you will and can get it (provided it’s uploaded!). The flexibility of online learning makes me think about how traditional educational institutions should adapt and grow. Hybrid or even fully online is the only way out of sinking enrollment rates, I think. But we should not overly rely on bots to do the heavy lifting. Some things (and people) get lost along the way. My bad experience with Coursera should serve as an example.
This journey also highlights my insight about metrics: they don’t capture the whole story. My learning record in Innodata now shows an unfinished course, but that doesn’t reveal the faulty exam or the frustration that led to my withdrawal. Behind each metric, there’s a person—an anxiety-ridden, slightly OCD 40-year-old, for example, with a penchant for certifications. Learn to discern the difference between data and the story behind that data. Don’t let the 0s and 1s lull you into submission.
So, caveat emptor! When you enroll in online courses, buyer beware. Not all of them will fit your needs. Don’t be a blind believer in what Yuval Noah Harari calls the religion of data science. Technology should work for your learning, not the other way around. The same goes for learning certificates; you can collect as many as you like, but if there’s no real takeaway, then you haven’t gained anything at all.
If you want to know about anything linguistics for free, I highly recommend heading to the VLC, led by Prof. Jürgen Handke and the Linguistic Engineering Team at Marburg University. Their courses are (as I said) free, innovative, and powered by AI—the type that supports human learning. Now that I have their introductory linguistics course under my belt, I’m going for their next offerings: Psycholinguistics and Language and the Mind. As Sia so aptly puts it, “I’m unstoppable, I’m a Porsche with no brakes, I’m unstoppable, I’m unstoppable today.”
The featured image on this blog was AI-generated by me using free tools, namely ChatGPT, Canva, and Leonardo AI. I use these images to support my written content creatively and cost-effectively.
