FREE Harvard University Photography Course, Online

Dave442 · Jan 16, 2017

You can see some extra information from the Harvard Extension School site that has some more recent course info (the online course is from 2009). Not sure if there is anything newer than this 2015 info...
DGMD E-10: Exposing Digital Photography

OGsPhotography · Jan 16, 2017

I can now officially say I am unofficially a Harvard dropout.

I really didnt want that " front office manager" ad in my inbox this evening. Im in the back of the house in case you didnt know.

In all seriousness I think I can still take the course while opting out of Alisons spam.

gayle23 · Jan 18, 2017

I can't seem to start the course Derel. I followed your link and logged in through facebook, clicked on the first module and it says the course has been withdrawn. Am I doing something wrong?

otherprof · Jan 18, 2017

Derrel said:
Following Stanford University and its lead of offering free online photo instruction, Harvard University announced just days ago that it is offering the totally free online photography course entitled Digitial Photography. The course offers multiple sign-up methods, including a signup via one's Facebook account. See this page for signup details. Photography Courses – Photography Courses Online | ALISON Course Outline | ALISON

I took the Facebook sign-up route, and within five seconds, was directed, as student "Derrel", to the 12-module course, and the 13th module, the course evaluation module.

This course is being taken down on February 15, so all work and requests for certificates must be completed my then. It will be replaced by a few digital photography courses. I just got the e-mail from Alison.

Derrel · Jan 18, 2017

Yeah, they sent me the e-mail today! According to the Alison folks, Harvard University requested that they pull the course. Well, back to YouTube and bull*hit from various YouTuber's!

Or folks can look up
Marc Levoy - Lectures on Digital Photography

Mark Lavoy's lectures from his Stanford University course are on-line and free. Better get 'em before somebody gets panties in bunch and pulls them down. (pun intended!)

jcdeboever · Jan 18, 2017

vintagesnaps said:
Petapixel already 'fixed it' for me - with an Update (below the P.S.).

Which still doesn't seem to be accurate... and neither seems to be United World Press, stating the course is in 'partnership' with the university (from two years ago).

I wasn't sure at first til I looked at this more thoroughly, but - this seems to be Alison using what Harvard made available publicly as one of their online extension courses this past fall. So it seems that a company overseas thinks it's OK to use it on their site for potential profit - to get people to sign up thru them. Which doesn't seem to be the intended purpose.

Yes, the course is free, but apparently companies like this make money from people paying for certificates. And the site doesn't say (that I could find) how much they charge for certificates - which probably are worth less than the piece of paper they'd be printed on.

The thing is, the instructors wrote the material and taught the course and a university made it available for personal use by the public - so why should somebody else profit from it??

If you take this you're taking a course that was originally offered thru Harvard, that Alison took and put on their website. This class thru Alison is NOT currently on Harvard's website; you are NOT signing up thru Harvard, you are probably just helping a seemingly disreputable company try to make money.

Here are Harvard's free online adult continuing ed. courses. http://online-learning.edu
http://online-learning.edu Or you can find them thru EDX. http://www.edx.org/school/harvardx
http://www.edx.org/school/harvardx

Wonder if Alison has a baseball team?

purpleorbes · Jan 18, 2017

hmm. damn it.

DGMPhotography · Jan 19, 2017

I wrote an article about this the other day haha. It seems like a neat course to me!

Daryll Morgan Photography | Richmond Photographer

davzava · Jan 19, 2017

Interesting when I signed in with Facebook I got a notice saying the course was pulled

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Dave442 · Jan 19, 2017

If you want to watch the course it is still offered by the guy that presented it, Dan Armendariz, and from this site you can easily download or watch in full screen...

TV.DIGITALPHOTOGRAPHY.EXPOSED
Note that there are also Projects and Problem Sets Tabs next to the Lectures Tab if you really want to get into the course.

I do prefer the Stanford course with Marc Levoy, I took notes on his lecture 3 and I never do that, while Dan can go on-and-on talking about nothing (I suppose this helps in a live setting so people can keep up).

I noticed that some people complained the Harvard course is old at 2009 - I think the Stanford course is also from around that time period (one course textbook is Photography Ninth Edition and looking at my copy it was published in 2008).

I also suggest including some courses that are through University Art Departments. So far the above lectures feel more like engineers trying to be humane in offering a Humanities class for those that are not in the arts.

DanOstergren · Jan 19, 2017

Honestly I would much rather pay for a creativelive course from a photographer I look up to.

runnah · Jan 19, 2017

DanOstergren said:
Honestly I would much rather pay for a creativelive course from a photographer I look up to.

Aww, you know I wouldn't charge you!

vintagesnaps · Jan 19, 2017

I think most likely it got taken down because either the instructor or someone from Harvard (or both) saw it - maybe he/they did a takedown notice to Alison. The written and/or video coursework was probably copyrighted by the instructor or the university.

The course is not currently offered - you can go to the instructor's site and click on 2015 for his most recent copy of the coursework and read the text, watch the videos, etc. On his Dan Armendariz site it's under Courses then go to Digital Media E10 and scroll down to 2015.

I'm glad this was taken down because Alison seemed to be trying to sell phony certificates for a class that they didn't seem to be authorized to offer.

DGMPhotography · Jan 20, 2017

Lessons are here: TV.DIGITALPHOTOGRAPHY.EXPOSED

shadowlands · Jan 22, 2017

I had already started it, so it's going to let me complete it. They're giving people who were already signed in, to complete it by Feb. 15.
I just completed it. Boom! Harvard Grad in the house! Ha!
Hey, for free, it's cool. No complaints.