FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs)

This page contains Frequently Asked Questions. If other questions appear frequently in the discussion forums we'll add links here to the pinned forum threads during the course.

How much does the course cost?

Nothing! You have full access to all of the course material for free! Students taking the free version of the course have full access to all course material, although access is restricted to a period of 8 weeks after initially signing up.

What if I want a Verified Certificate of Achievement?

Verified Certificates of Achievement are a great way to officially demonstrate your completion of the course. This could be a benefit to you in a future job or college application. Completing the course with a verified certificate costs $US49 (some students may be eligible for financial assistance). You can upgrade to the verified track at any time within the 8 week period after initially signing up, which will extend your access to the course indefinitely.

Once you are a part of the verified track and you have completed the course requirements, you can generate your certificate by going to the Progress tab and clicking on "Request Certificate".

How do I navigate the course?

Much of the "Prologue" lesson of the course is devoted to teaching you have to navigate and interact with the course. See the first video in the Prologue for a course orientation. The remaining learning material for the course can be found in the Course link. Details about the course content, assessment and prior knowledge required can be found in the Syllabus and Assessment link.

What does "self-paced" mean?

Self-paced means that all course material is available immediately when the course opens. You are welcome to complete the course at any pace or in any order in which you choose.

How do I use the discussion forum?

The discussion forum is a resource for you to share questions, answers, ideas, etc. with your fellow classmates and the Course Staff. For details on how to use and navigate the forum, go to the second video in the Prologue. The forum will be moderated by the Course Instructor around one to two times per week. Some guidelines:

• Many topics have posts already created for them.  For example each question in the course already has a post titled "Discussion on ... Question ...".  Please use these posts for discussion on these topics rather than creating new posts.
  
• In addition, before posting, search the forum to make sure your question has not already been answered - the less clutter the better!
• Upvote good posts - this will ensure the best posts are easy to find.
• Please ensure that you are polite to other students, and note that for many students English will not be their first language.
• Observe the honor code - do not ask for nor post solutions to assessment or final exam questions. It is however fine to discuss general approaches to solving these problems - in fact we encourage collaboration between students both within and outside of edX!

How to post mathematical symbols in the forum.

What software will I need to use during the course?

The default software for the course is Microsoft Excel.

For those who don't have Excel loaded onto their computers, Excel Online is an appropriate alternative. Excel Online is a free, but limited, version of Excel which is hosted online. All spreadsheets we use in this course will be able to be opened and used in Excel online. Note that you will need to have a Microsoft account to use Excel online.

Another alternative is Open Office, which is a free, open source suite of software that somewhat mimics Microsoft Office. All spreadsheets we use in this course will be able to be opened and used in Open Office Calc, the Open Office equivalent of Excel.

What level of rounding is acceptable in answering numerical questions?

Questions will tell you what level of precision is required for the final answer.  All working leading to the final answer should be left unrounded as much as possible (the software above will not round intermediate steps in any way even if the format of the cells in the intermediate steps shows only a certain number of significant figures).

Who is the Course Instructor?

The Course Instructor, Adam Butt, is an Associate Professor in actuarial studies and statistics at the Australian National University.

How will my personal and course-related data in the course be used?

Course Staff have access to the information you supplied when you set up your edX account, along with any information you provide in the Coursework elements of the course.  This information will be used to analyse course engagement and progress across a variety of demographic factors, with a view to improving the course for future iterations.

Other questions

If you have any more general questions about edX, you are encouraged to visit the edX Help Centre.