With apologies to whoever wrote that old bus-trip song about beer bottles: Ninety-nine courses to take online now, ninety-nine courses to take. Enroll in one soon, when most opportune, ninety-eight courses to take online now … Yes, lifelong learners can take one of the ninety-nine (and counting) non-degree, non-credit courses on Columbia+, the University’s online education hub, where experts from across the University take you to dozens of intellectual destinations.
“Students and alumni at leading higher-education institutions expect lifelong engagement with their universities for continued learning,” says Soulaymane Kachani, Columbia’s senior vice provost, whose office oversees the program. “Also, learning is increasingly taking place digitally.”
Classes start at $50 and are as specialized as they are varied. Whether it’s Advanced Topics in Derivative Pricing ($99), Animation and CGI Motion ($199), or Epidemic Modeling ($50), there is something for everyone. “There’s also a discount of $50 using code ALUM2024 for any course offered on the platform, which makes a number of courses free to alumni,” Kachani says. The most popular courses at the moment are Artificial Intelligence in Real Estate, The Civil War and Reconstruction, and An Introduction to Central Banking and Foreign Exchange.
There are no grades or deadlines on this learning trip. Most of the courses are rolling: you can hop on anytime and travel at your own pace. And when you complete a course, you receive a digital certificate as proof of your journey. To paraphrase another bus-trip ditty: The wheels in your mind go round and round …
