The new enrollment for this class and session is now closed. However, for those of you who are already in, the class materials will remain accessible indefinitely.

At some point very soon, I will stop checking the forums. I suggest that for any questions regarding the science you use our Facebook page, which I will probably check from time to time. If you have technical issues, please contact the Coursera people directly.

The class will probably be offered again next year, although probably in somewhat different packaging, and hopefully some improvements. I will not be teaching the Caltech class, due to scheduling conflicts, so I may do it on a voluntary basis just for the Coursera audience. Should that happen, a new enrollment will be open in due time.

I do know that I will be teaching an introductory astronomy class (Ay 1) for Caltech freshmen (that's the first year students, for those outside the US) in the Spring 2014. However, I will probably use some other MOOC platform than Coursera, just to see how different approaches work.

Finally, for the virtual office hours enthusiasts, I agree to have informal discussion sessions, say, the first Saturday every month (that can change in any direction and at any time), starting on April 6, at the same time and same venue, unless notified otherwise. I'll probably use the FB page to announce those. If some new people would like to join us, please follow these instructions.

Have fun, everyone!

Wed 27 Mar 2013 5:43 PM CET

I am simply amazed at the overwhelming positive comments on the class; I thought that I was doing a mediocre job, at best. Well, thank you, all! It is good to see one's efforts appreciated, especially with all the rough and tumble of doing it the first time.

The credit has to be shared by the entire team. For the technical support, Cassandra Horii, Leslie Maxfield, and Alex Mikes at Caltech, and their counterparts at the Coursera support team. Also, the hard working TAs, Ryan Trainor, Mislav Balokovic, Trevor David, Juliette Becker, and Iryna Butsky. This effort was also supported and enabled by our Vice-Provost, Melany Hunt. And I'd like to thank my fellow guinea pigs, Henry Lester and Antonio Rangel for the camaraderie and fun discussions.

Some of you have expressed a tangible appreciation by supporting our work, as described in this thread, and for that we are deeply grateful. Every little bit helps.

If you haven't done so already, please fill this survey, as it will help us in the future. Also, you may want to provide a feedback here.

Have fun with your other educational adventures!

Wed 27 Mar 2013 7:14 AM CET

The certificates have been released. Whereas originally we did not specify the "with distinction" track, we decided to add it, for the students who did better than 90% of max total score (60% is the passing grade).

If you are curious, here are some numbers (my understanding is that these are typical for Coursera classes):

The number of registered students was 26,751 (more than 28,000 registered, but some officially dropped out).
Of those, only 13,242 showed any activity at all (i.e., there were many "passive dropouts")
In the end (last week) there were 2,085 remaining.
Of those, 1,271 passed and got the certificates.
And of those, 306 passed with distinction.

Congrats to all!

Wed 27 Mar 2013 1:11 AM CET

... except for the final grades and certificates, which are being computed right now. This took longer than expected, due to some technical issues.

Anyway, thank you all for participating!

Tue 26 Mar 2013 10:09 PM CET

Some of you asked how you can contribute to our work, even though the class was offered for free, as a tangible sign of your appreciation. Caltech has now made this possible; see this thread .

Needless to say, we would be very grateful for your support, and any amount helps. This is especially true now, as the Federal support for research and education shrinks.

Wed 20 Mar 2013 2:07 AM CET

... will be at the usual time and place, Saturday at 10 am Pacific Daylight Saving Time (UT - 7h; a change since the last Sunday, be sure you got it right if you are not in the US).

Sat 16 Mar 2013 4:42 AM CET

Hey all, all the lectures have now been posted, and the final quiz (Quiz 8) is available. The quiz has a hard deadline of 9am PDT (note daylight saving time) on Monday, 25 March 2013. Good luck! Please take the course feedback survey as well when you get the chance.

--> Thus, the certificates will be issued on the 26th, since we just allowed for a bit more time to do the last quiz.

Sat 16 Mar 2013 1:59 AM CET

As of the last night, all of the Chapter 16 has been posted, except for a glitch with the video of module 16.6, which is being fixed and will appear this morning.

Update: All of it is now posted. Enjoy!

Fri 15 Mar 2013 1:44 PM CET

Folks, the TAs are working hard to post the remaining videos and the final quiz, and the class is essentially done (aside from you having to do 2 quizzes in the next 9 days!).

You can help us prepare better for the next time by filling this questionnaire, which should not take more than a few minutes of your time. Please do so while the memories are fresh.

Thank you for participating in this class!

Fri 15 Mar 2013 4:02 AM CET

The first two modules for Chapter 16 have now been posted. The remaining videos will be posted later this week, but you can find all the lecture slides on the Chapters page in the meantime.

Wed 13 Mar 2013 7:59 AM CET

Quiz 7 covers Chapters 13 and 14. It is due at the end of this week on Friday, with a hard deadline on Thursday of next week. There will be one more quiz posted later this week covering Chapters 15 and 16. Hard deadline for the second quiz (Quiz 8) will likely coincide with the hard deadline for this quiz due to closing of the online course. Good luck!

Mon 11 Mar 2013 6:04 AM CET

The Chapter 14 material has been uploaded. Enjoy!

Thu 7 Mar 2013 8:36 AM CET

There *will be* office hours in SL on Saturday, March 9, and probably also on March 16, and then it is really over!

Wed 6 Mar 2013 7:38 AM CET

Folks, just a heads-up, for your planning purposes:
- Chapter 14 is imminent
- Chapter 15 will be posted circa Monday, March 11
- Chapter 16 will follow shortly thereafter
- Even though Caltech instruction ends on March 13, we will allow for some time after that for the Coursera students to do the final quiz, probably with a hard deadline on March 22, but that is yet to be firmed up
- Certificates of completion will be issued on March 22, and no later than Monday, March 25

Any changes to this anticipated schedule will be announced here. Enjoy!

Wed 6 Mar 2013 7:32 AM CET

Course material for Chapter 13 has now been posted!

Fri 1 Mar 2013 9:05 AM CET

Quiz 6, which will cover chapters 10 and 11, is now available. The hard deadline is 9:00 AM PST on March 4th.

Wed 27 Feb 2013 8:37 AM CET

Chapter 13 will likely be posted tomorrow, chapter 14 by Friday. Then the pace will ease off for a week, and chapter 15 (and maybe even some stuff from the intended chapters 16 and 17, we'll see) in the following, last week.

Whereas it remains questionable whether I will manage to record the videos for those last 2 chapters, I'd be happy to post the slides and the links. We'll see how it goes.

Wed 27 Feb 2013 5:29 AM CET

The lectures and slides for Module 12 are now available!

Enjoy!

Tue 26 Feb 2013 8:09 PM CET

Hey all, we've now posted the lectures for Chapter 11! A quiz covering Chapters 10 & 11 will be posted soon.

Sun 24 Feb 2013 9:20 AM CET

Course material for Chapter 10 has now been posted!

Wed 20 Feb 2013 8:02 AM CET

Unfortunately, due to a personnel and scheduling issue and the upcoming long weekend in the US, we will not have Chapter 10 videos uploaded until Tuesday. We will certainly have Chapter 11 also posted next week, and possibly even Chapter 12. Relax - most of that material is easier than what we went through so far. Thanks!

Fri 15 Feb 2013 10:37 PM CET

... on March 13, which is when the Caltech term ends. The earlier version of this comment was misunderstood by some, so let me clarify. The primary target of the class are Caltech students, and we simply cannot extend the class past the end of the term. We are happy to offer it to the greater Coursera community at the same time, but it has to end when the Caltech term ends. Preparing the on-line course material requires a *huge* extra investment of time and effort, and I simply do not have the time or the energy to make an extra course extension (which officially could not be the same class anyway) beyond its official end date. Caltech pays me to teach Caltech students and to do research; all of the work for the on-line class is purely a voluntary effort on my part. I find it very rewarding as an experience, but there are only so many hours in a day. Coursera does not compensate any instructors, and students are getting the classes as they are at no cost. We are all learning here.

Thus, if we don't get to cover some parts of the initially intended material, because I was too sick to deliver the lectures, that is too bad... I appreciate very much the opinion expressed by many of you on the forums that you'd rather extend it than truncate it, but March 13 is when it ends, no matter what. We'll squeeze in as much as we can. If I were to design a class specifically for Coursera, it would be a different class. Hopefully, the class will be offered again next year, and who knows, maybe even improved. Anyway, enjoy it while it lasts.

Tue 12 Feb 2013 6:05 AM CET

I probably discouraged too many of you from trying virtual office hours in Second Life. The good news it that we now have some volunteer mentors who can help you started in a relatively painless way. For more details, please see the "Other Discussion Venues" page.

Sat 9 Feb 2013 10:32 PM CET

There will be only one new chapter next week, probably posted by Tue. or Wed.

Whether we will simply cut off some of the intended material, or extend the class by a week is yet TBD.

Sat 9 Feb 2013 5:29 AM CET

The chapter nine slides and lectures are available!

Once you've finished those, Quiz 5 is also available. It will cover material from chapters 8 and 9 both. The due date will be next Wednesday, 11:59 PM. Please be careful with that submission time - your time zone might be different than ours, so please make sure you take that into account when you decide when to submit the quiz.

Fri 8 Feb 2013 7:00 PM CET

I started a thread, https://class.coursera.org/cosmo-2012-001/forum/thread?thread_id=353

Please offer your experience and suggestions, if you have any. Thanks!

Thu 7 Feb 2013 6:04 AM CET

The lecture videos and slides for Chapter 8 have been uploaded. Chapter 9 material will be posted later this week. Until then, enjoy the beautiful movies from numerical simulations of structure formation!

Wed 6 Feb 2013 7:24 AM CET

Several people asked in the forums how many students are there in this class. We started with > 28,000 registered students. Coursera says that typically between 5 and 10% (and closer to 5%) end up finishing a class. Given the relatively high level of this course, I expected maybe 2% remaining.

Well, as of the last week, there are > 3,500 active users, i.e., ~ 12% of the original number. The total number of unique users who downloaded or watched videos is > 11,000, i.e., ~ 40% of the original signup number. This is considerably more than I expected.

Tue 5 Feb 2013 7:18 PM CET

Your instructor has been sick with a flu, and that is why there was only one chapter in week 4, and the material for the week 5 is being slightly delayed. We anticipate that Chapter 8 will be posted by Monday, and Chapter 9 shortly thereafter. Meanwhile, please review the material covered so far.

Sat 2 Feb 2013 1:38 AM CET

We will cover only 1 chapter in Week 4, ch. 7. Please use the rest of the week to review the previous material. The quiz will contain questions from the previous chapters as well.

Our regular schedule of 2 chapters/week will resume next week, with ch. 8 and 9.

Mon 28 Jan 2013 2:33 AM CET

Chapter 8 coming soon. Thank you for your patience!

Sun 27 Jan 2013 6:47 AM CET

Apologies for not starting the Google+ office hours yet, it's been one of those weeks... Meanwhile, the SL virtual office hours seem to work; the next one is 10-11 am PST on Saturday, Jan. 26.

Sat 26 Jan 2013 5:10 AM CET

We are a little late with posting the week for material. Please bear with us. Cosmic forces are at work.

Sat 26 Jan 2013 5:08 AM CET

Hey class, Quiz 3 has been posted. It includes questions on material covered in Week 3 (Ch 5-6), in the same format as earlier quizzes. The quiz is due at 9am PST on 28 January 2013. Good luck!

Wed 23 Jan 2013 5:34 PM CET

The lecture videos and slides for Chapters 5 and 6, which comprise materials for Week 3, have been posted on the website. As in previous weeks, Quiz 3 will be posted early in the next week, after Quiz 2 is due.

Sat 19 Jan 2013 7:54 AM CET

As an experiment, we'll have virtual office hours in the virtual world of Second Life, starting this Saturday, Jan. 19, at 10 am Pacific Standard Time. Read more details here .

Early next week we'll also try a Google Hangout. The details will be forthcoming.

Fri 18 Jan 2013 7:13 AM CET

We started a Google+ comminity, "Cosmology Class", which anyone can join (but you do need a Google+ account). We will use that as a springboard for some virtual office hours using Google hangouts. The timing and the details of that will be announced later.

Fri 18 Jan 2013 12:10 AM CET

The SIPX company is providing at a cost pdfs of individual chapters from E. Harrison's book, "Cosmology", which is one of the books I recommended as a supplementary reading. These can be purchased at:
http://service.sipx.com/service/php/public_inspect_course.php?course_id=c-25d71904-5ead-11e2-8ba2-12313d299634

Note that this announcement is for your information only, and does not constitute an endosement of this particular enterprise. If you are really into this, maybe you should just buy a used copy of the entire book on line.

Thu 17 Jan 2013 7:37 PM CET

Hey all, Quiz 2 has been posted, covering material from Week 2 (Ch 3-4). The quiz is due at 9am PST on 21 January 2013, and has the same format as Quiz 1. Good luck!

Wed 16 Jan 2013 2:34 AM CET

A number of people has asked this question. All of the posted materials will be available indefinitely, but accessible only by the students who have enrolled in the class, regardless of how well they did. Any students not enrolled in this class will not be able to access the material, until the next time it is offered, probably a year from now.

Mon 14 Jan 2013 8:44 PM CET

The lecture videos and slides for Chapter 4 have been posted, so you now have access to all of the material for Week 2. Quiz 2 will be posted soon, after Quiz 1 has closed and been reviewed!

Mon 14 Jan 2013 8:17 AM CET

The lecture videos and PDFs for Chapter 3 have been uploaded and are available via the links on the left side of the screen. Chapter 4 will be posted soon!

Sun 13 Jan 2013 9:26 AM CET

We apologize for the slight delay in posting it, we are working to get it up and available as soon as we can. It will be announced here. Thanks!

Sat 12 Jan 2013 8:02 PM CET

This is a reminder that Quiz 1 is due at 9am PST on Monday, 14 January. Congratulations to those who have completed the quiz already, and thank you for your feedback on the quiz questions! However, please do not discuss specific answers to the quiz questions on the course discussion forums until the quiz deadline has passed. Thanks!

Fri 11 Jan 2013 10:51 PM CET

... and so does this class. We are off to a healthy start. Keep those discussion forums going, and/or use the FB page (just "like it" - please do not try to friend the class, or the instructor, or the TAs).

Enjoy the class!

Tue 8 Jan 2013 11:31 PM CET

The class officially starts at 12 noon PST on Monday, January 7. All Week 1 materials will be available then.

Please check the information linked in the navigation bar to the left.

Have fun!

Fri 4 Jan 2013 1:01 AM CET