Yeah, I've head similar problems with some of the machine learning classes as coursera. I've really like udacity's program though, not sure if you've checked it out? They've got two AI courses, one the classic Intro to AI that covers a little bit of everything:
https://www.udacity.com/course/cs271 I used the first version to help me with a general AI course I took last year. They also have a more advanced AI for Robotics class that goes into robot planning using probabilistic methods: https://www.udacity.com/course/cs373 I'm taking this one now. Overall I like their set up better than coursera's (although it's still really good). They don't have as much classes, but they incorporate videos and short programmng quizes in a way that makes it easier to understand and apply. Their program is also self-paced so you don't have to worry about Coursera's deadlines, just learning the material and getting the work done. For both though, I've found I have to have a textbook for review and to get the full background and proofs behind the concepts. It just doesn't work for me otherwise. -Chris ________________________________ From: Jim Bromer <[email protected]> To: AGI <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, January 25, 2013 7:29 PM Subject: [agi] I may be destined to be a hopeless dropout from online introductory courses in AI I am taking two Introduction to AI online courses and I am making quite a few mistakes. Some of the mistakes are just plain mistakes. But some are due to annoying cutsieness. Here is an example: True or False State transition systems can represent actions that occur in parallel. Well of course they can, but since this is an introductory course the answer has to be False. Ok, got that one right. A state transition graph may have multiple outgoing/incoming directed edges that are labelled with the same action. Well I had a feeling that was a trick question given the answer to the first question, and the answer is...True. True? My best guess is that the term label was not being applied to *some particular* labelled actions but to the choice of actions at a particular state, whereas each state is the resultant of the action so they are thought of as particulars (like values)? Maybe there is some other reasoning behind this but if there is I can't figure it out. This was from an introductory course in AI planning. AI Planning! I find this stuff intensely annoying. We cannot use a state transition diagram to diagram parallel actions? (That would be impossible for anyone to even consider. Your mind can't handle it.) But it can be used to represent multiple outgoing/incoming directed edges labelled with the same action? Is the teacher kidding? Maybe you guys who have already been through this see some error that I don't see, but I just don't see why the teacher cannot just come out and explain the conventions that are applied to terminology (like "state transition diagram") and save the quizzes for the good stuff. Why challenge the students with the professor's mastery of ambiguity? I make a lot of really dense mistakes in these courses. I don't want to waste my time trying to outwit the teacher's challenges about computational phlogiston. Jim Bromer AGI | Archives | Modify Your Subscription ------------------------------------------- AGI Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/21088071-f452e424 Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=21088071&id_secret=21088071-58d57657 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
