Susan Davidson
Computational thinking is the process of approaching a problem in a systematic manner and creating and expressing a solution such that it can be carried out by a computer. But you don’t need to be a computer scientist to think like a computer scientist! In fact, we encourage students from any field of study to take this course. Many quantitative and data–centric problems can be solved using computational thinking and an understanding of computational thinking will give you a foundation for solving problems that have real–world, social impact. In this course, you will learn about the pillars of computational thinking, how computer scientists develop and analyze algorithms, and how solutions can be realized on a computer using the Python programming language. By the end of the course, you will be able to develop an algorithm and express it to the computer by writing a simple Python program. This course will introduce you to people from diverse professions who use computational thinking to solve problems. You will engage with a unique community of analytical thinkers and be encouraged to consider how you can make a positive social impact through computational thinking. The University of Pennsylvania (commonly referred to as Penn) is a private …
Instructor Details
Courses : 1
Specification: Computational Thinking for Problem Solving
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55 reviews for Computational Thinking for Problem Solving
Add a review
| Price | Free |
|---|---|
| Provider | |
| Duration | 37 hours |
| Year | 2018 |
| Level | Beginner |
| Language | English |
| Certificate | Yes |
| Quizzes | Yes |
FREE
Weilian X –
Very nice course of people who have no experience with computer and programming. The only thing I can complain is the peer graded assignment.
VIJAY K R P –
Great course for introduction to computer science.
Bartek –
I highly recommend taking this course, whether you are aspiring to be a developer, looking for a better way to solve problems at your job or school, or are interested in computational thinking. I apply concepts from this course drawing flow charts and writing pseudocode at my job as a Salesforce Admin and noticed that I can solve harder problems quicker. The only thing that did not work out for me a couple of times was that assignments are peer graded. As a result, I failed two assignments on a first try when I was positive that my solutions were correct. If that happens to you, just make sure that you resubmit the assignment and eventually one of the peers who understand your solution will be able to grade it correctly. Many thanks to the instructors and the team who put this class together!
Faiyaz K H –
Truly excellent. Perfectly explained and tested.
Henry C –
Enjoyed the learning and the structure of the course. Felt like I got a good introduction to Python. Learned a bunch about algorithms. I marked a star off because the online grading sometimes was vague. Additionally, it took a while to get feedback. I had a bit of programming experience, so I didn’t have a huge challenge, but I can imagine if you are totally new, the assignments are really hard. It would be difficult to get the help and feedback that you need on their online forum system.
Megan H –
This is an excellent course for beginners. As a beginner, I appreciated the focus on fundamentals before tackling programming projects. The Python exercises were particularly helpful to me as a beginner: they illustrated the fundamentals and gave me great practice with computational thinking and debugging. I also appreciate the course’s emphasis on real life applications of computing.
Terri T –
Everyone will not be able to complete this since it does not offer additional resources that are relevant to the assignments. I tried and will not finish as it has become to time consuming. I am learning however, there are not examples or help for you if you do not understand the instructions.
Ed V –
Well designed and engaging great course!
Tanner S –
Great introduction to computer science.
Takahisa H –
well organized program and it is also life changing online educational too!
Xinyi C S –
In the course, I learned how to solve real world problems with computational thinking principles. I feel that I have accomplished a lot since I was able to write a python program solving a complex problem after this course.
Siddharth B –
Amazing and challenging course.
Patrick T R –
Great course for beginning a journey into computer science!
Greg C –
This was an exceptional course, I learned a lot about the basics of computational thinking, how to break down problems into smaller problems and tackle them one step at a time. You don’t realize how much you actually use computational thinking in real life until you take this course. It progressed to more difficult topics throughout the course but as long as you read the instructions thoroughly you will be able to complete everything without help.
Akash K B –
The teachings that i experience here is way too different from Indian online education system . Coursera is more developed and skill enhancer to the one who is beginner and want to learn with minimum pressure in a different way. Thanks to Coursera (Computational Thinking for problem solving).
Shalin M –
The course is very well designed and taught, however the peer review system is a real pain.
Rushy R –
A very good beginners course to learn how to take a computational approach to solving problems. For those who come from a non CS backgrounds and want to learn programming, this class is a great starting place, highly recommend!
Miguel –
Very thorough starter course. I especially loved the composing algorithms , translating to pseudocode and coding into python exercises in the final week. While occasionally tricky, thinking through an exercise and finally solving it is satisfying. Thank you Upenn!
Echo R –
very useful! It will train you how to think like a computer, and hence to understand it how it works
Garret B –
Very well thought out. This course covers simple concepts while still being engaging and challenging. Examples from varying disciplines help illustrate concepts in a real life context.
GO T –
It was amazing program to learn the computational thinking and the basic of python programming. Some tests were difficult for me, but it was good training to learn the programming.
Jeanne C –
Well organized, engaging, informative.
Jill N –
The first 3 weeks of the course were great. It really helped change my way of thinking to solve large complex problems. I can use this in my role as a Business Analyst. The lecturers presented the materials in a clear manner, with real life examples to help the understanding. Then, came the python coding. The first few modules of the Python section were fine. Then came section 4.7 It was a lot more difficult than the others, and I found that the helpdesk was slow to respond. It took longer than it should have to complete that section, but I pressed on. Then, there was the final test. Section 4.8. There were some concepts in this exam that were not included in the lecture material. The online help was non existent. It took DAYS to get a response from the TA in the discussion group. Even then, the response was not particularly helpful. We were then told to send a problem flag to review the code (since we were not allowed to share the code in the discussion group.) I submitted a problem ticket a week ago, and still have not received a response. Keep in mind that I’m not a developer. I found help in other places, and was finally able to complete the assignment. It’s a shame that the problems with the last section of the course seemed to take away from what was otherwise an excellent course.
EDGAR A V –
This was a great class to improve analytical thinking and problem solving skills. I enjoyed the opportunity to learn a new logical way to see the world and to rewire my thinking process. Thank you for a compelling and engaging class. I look forward to keeping learning about computer science.
Raymond G L K –
Course content is good, graded assignments are good, I just had problems with my assignments in week 4 as I easily became confused with the implementation of all the lessons combined.
Sun T –
The auto grade assignment in Week 4 should be improved.
Mudasar A –
Excellent! Mindblowing
Kimberly C –
This is an exciting course to take and if you are persistent you shall succeed. It really made me flex my brain muscles. This course made me realise how much I love the IT field and gives me motivation to return to this field professionally. I look forward to taking more courses with UPenn. Also, the Teaching Staff gave excellent advice on solving one of my issues in coding. It required no clarification once I took a second revisit at his comments. Thank you for this experience.
Ibrahim E M –
If there is one thing I learned from this course it is that learning how to code does not always mean thinking computationally. Practically speaking, this course has content that can be applicable from day one. If you are interested in knowing how the story began or understand programming from the roots, this is the place to start.
Doug Q –
Outstanding course!!
Kun–Hua W –
If you are dealing with project management and huge amount of data, I believe this course will be the best fit!
Kun Hua W –
If you are dealing with project management and huge amount of data, I believe this course will be the best fit!
Cleefton –
Excellent!
Benjamin T –
Really good course explaining the fundamentals of computational thinking. A must for people who are looking into doing computer science or any kind of software related work and don’t have a background in it.
Ogunbayo F –
The challenging assignments and projects made it more interesting and taught me to always pay attention to little details.
shelly s –
it worth the time.
Troy E –
A very good overview of computational thinking! If it’s your first time, you need to take this course. The courses uses real life examples and unplugged programming, making learning relevant and personal.
Angela D –
Really great beginner course for anyone looking to understand CS / programming fundamentals. The course does a really god job building a strong foundational element and then concluding with you writing your own program.
thaddeuspearson –
A well thought out, progressive walk into python programming and the paradigm of computational thinking. There were a few exercises that left a few details slightly fuzzy, and some instructions that were not 100% clear, but not impossible to work through. Presenters spoke clearly and slowly, and were helpful in understanding topics.
Zhenghong B –
it is good for biginner. Susan and Chris provided an excellent course
Fabricio D K –
Really great course about Computational Thinking and how to solve problems. Recommended for anyone interested in learning more about Computer Science and how computers can help us solve problems.
chao w –
great way to start with
Pranay R K –
Good introductory course! Very clear lectures
Byron D –
I really enjoyed the course; however, I feel the last module (week 4 / phyton) does not have enough explanations and examples in order to properly complete the assignments. I had to research on my own and complete phyton trainings at other sites in order to successfully complete the projects. Thanks for the course and I look forward to applying to MCIT.
Edward W –
Very well thought out course. I have some experience with Python from other courses which definitely helped, but I found this course very interesting in ‘stepping back & seeing the bigger picture’ i.e. how to think about problems using algorithms. Highly recommended, I learnt lots.
Abu S M H –
Excillent
Yingyue C –
very solid introduction about the logic & computational thinking, which made the programming part later in the course makes a lot more sense.
Anisa R –
I loved this course! It was a perfect introduction to computer science and basic programming. I had no prior experience, and I found it challenging but understandable. It was well structured. I’m excited to learn more.
Reece M –
Overall I thought this course was very well done. It was at a basic level, so much so that you didn’t need a background in computational thinking or mathematics to take the course. This was very nice! The explanations were very helpful and the videos were well done. The instructors were overall quite engaging and the concepts were well motivated. I think the capstone problem (the Corpus example) could be modified to make it more engaging and interesting. I think a different problem would be more suitable, as the description of the problem was somewhat difficult to digest. Some of the compiling and checking of the solutions was a little challenging at times. Sometimes you had the correct answer, but needed to alter the solution somewhat to fit the criteria of the test. This was not necessarily a bad thing, but it was frustrating in Module 4. Overall nicely done! Reece
YZ –
This course is extremely helpful for understanding the basics knowledge and skills about computer science.
Adewumi, A D –
It was a great learning experience. I was able to understand steps to take before solving problems using code. Thank you
Cesar G –
I thought the course was great. Very much tailored towards learners with little to no computer science background.
Jonathan M –
I’ve taken multiple Coursera courses, and this one is *extremely* well done and very, very professional. The production of videos is very high (even kind of artistic?), the assignments/prompts are applied to real world scenarios (and are also used as a string throughout the entirety of the course), and the instruction is organized, concise, and clear.
James L –
GREAT
Alan R –
I thought this course was great. The progression from manual deconstruction of a problem all the way to coding the problems in python was great. The lectures were very interesting and were easy to relate to real world situations.