My name is Edward Tanguay.
I have a Bachelors degree in Philosophy, a Masters in Education, and am currently working as a web developer in Berlin, Germany.

I watch over 200 college-level MOOC lectures per year in subjects such as history , psychology, science, religion, art, philosophy, and IT development in English, German, French, Spanish and Italian, and record my notes here.
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Learning Activity by Month:


The primary goal of this Learn Tracker project is to build a web site which serves as one place to record the notes of everything that I am learning from MOOC classes, to foreign languages, to useful code examples and technical how-to notes, so that I not only have an overview of what I have learned, but can search and recall these notes at any time.

The secondary goal of this Learn Tracker project is to work together with companies, universities, and MOOC providers to build software that allows employees, students, and learners to record what they are learning in an efficient way so that it serves not only as (1) a record of what they have learned, but also (2) a place for them to review and search what they have learned.

Since January 2013, I have watched and recorded notes on over 300 MOOC lectures from over 30 different courses in both English and French, and have watched and recorded notes and flashcards on over 50 foreign language videos in Italian, French and Spanish. (I am curently still adding notes I took from 2013 and plan to be caught up by the end of January 2014.

August 2013 Learn Certificate
Watched and took notes on 26 college lectures:
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
THE SCIENCE OF GASTRONOMY, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
conduction
thermal energy is transferred from one molecule to the nearby molecule by means of a collision, there is no relocation of molecules
during cooking, heat is transferred from the outside to the center of a solid piece of food by means of conduction, e.g. steak
cellular structure of food impedes heat transfer
rate of heat transfer is determined by... view all notes
Friday, August 2, 2013
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
HISTORY OF ROCK AND ROLL, PART ONE, University of Rochester
Cashbox and Billboard
record industry charts
Cashbox
from 1942 to 1996
now revived online... view all notes
Saturday, August 3, 2013
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY, University of Toronto
throughout the centuries, humans have generally perceived themselves as distinct in some way, i.e. spirits in a material world
yet for things that were physical, as the scientific method was developed, humans began to see that interactions that those materials show show adherence to physical laws, and through careful observation and systematic experimentation, they could figure out what those laws are
led to physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy
as humans continued to perceive themselves as spiritual beings, it didn't make sense to study themselves scientifically
this began to change first through philosophical thought, and then through autopsies and biological experiments on the body... view all notes
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
THE MODERN WORLD: GLOBAL HISTORY SINCE 1760, University of Virginia
choices made in late 1916 on whether to continue the war
the study of history is analyzing choices as stories in which people confront a situation, try to make sense of it, see their problems there, try to figure out what is the best way to solve these problems, and then take action, which then leads to new situations
we want to discover why choices made towards the end of 1916 merged together so that the outcome would be to continue this already horrifying war
United States in 1916
Wilson's American was neutral, and was doing extremely well as a result... view all notes
Monday, August 5, 2013
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC SPEAKING, University of Washington
how are we going to evaluate speeches?
standardizing of grading is an important aspect but not the most important aspect
we are going to evaluate rubrics, i.e. various aspects of the speech
we get better at speaking by studying these parts in isolation and in tandem with each other
parts of impromptu speech... view all notes
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY, University of Toronto
psychology has a tension in terms of its scientific merit, which leads to two kinds of psychology
clinical approach
scientific approach
late 1800s: psychology was born in Germany
late 1800s, a period where Germany was economically a very strong country, the strongest in Europe and perhaps in the world... view all notes
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
THE LAW OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Universiteit Leiden
1951 European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC)
failed to come to a defense or political community
1957 European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM)
purpose: to create a specialist market for nuclear power in Europe
today legally distinct from the European Union... view all notes
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
THE MODERN WORLD: GLOBAL HISTORY SINCE 1760, University of Virginia
World War I was not just a war but an event in history that changed the ideas of how to organize these modern, industrial societies, and during the war, this took the form of moving the warring countries, some more than others, toward total states
the war was absolutely devastating, more than any other war people could remember, on a scale no one had ever experienced
the idea of 100,000 and millions of chemical explosions going off is giving a different feel for warfare
one of the horrors of some of the soldiers is that they would be caught in a shell hole full of water, they couldn't crawl out of it because the sides would be too slippery, and they would find themselves drowning in the water polluted by their dead comrades
painting: Gassed, by John Singer Sargeant... view all notes
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
THE ANCIENT GREEKS, Wesleyan University
as with other ancient civilizations, what we have with Sparta are a number of stories which we can try to turn into a coherent narrative
Lycurgus [ligh-KER-gus] (820BC-730BC)
law-giver
established the military-oriented reformation of Spartan society in accordance with the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi
The Rhetra [RAY-tra]... view all notes
Friday, August 9, 2013
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
HISTORY OF ROCK AND ROLL, PART ONE, University of Rochester
Bill Haley (1925-1981)
Bill Haley and His Comets
Bill Haley the first musician to "really get this Rock and Roll thing"
sold over 25 million records worldwide
self-admitted alcoholic, had alcohol problems at end of life, cancelled European tour... view all notes
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
THE MODERN WORLD: GLOBAL HISTORY SINCE 1760, University of Virginia
America officially entered WWI in April 1917, and even in early 1918, it was not clear who was going to win the war
situation in 1917
Britain and France
in terms of lack of military advancement and sheer casualties, both countries had another terrible year
yes the Americans had joined the war in April 1917 but the American soldiers were just being trained to fight and hardly any are engaging in combat in France... view all notes
Monday, August 12, 2013
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANKIND, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
background and context
about 13 billion years ago, matter, energy, time and space came into being in what is known as the Big Bang
the story of these fundamental features of our universe is called physics
about 300,000 years after their appearance, matter and energy began to combine into structures which we call atoms and these atoms then combine into even more complex structures called molecules
the story of molecules, atoms and their interactions is called chemistry... view all notes
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC SPEAKING, University of Washington
the skill set of developing main points and then being able to talk through each one is hugely useful in job interviews, informational interviews, client meetings, anytime you need to craft a message in a semi-formal setting
inventing main points
decide on your position, one side or the other
ask yourself why your thesis is true
try to come up with ten claims why your position is true... view all notes
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
THE MODERN WORLD: GLOBAL HISTORY SINCE 1760, University of Virginia
Woodrow Wilson had talked about a peace without victory
popular vision for a world exhausted by war
but if you were e.g. France where the Germans had largely destroyed your country, you may not be for this vision
problems that peace makers faced
five empires collapsed between 1912 and 1922... view all notes
Friday, August 16, 2013
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANKIND, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
the various species of human (those species which belonged to the genus Homo) shared many characteristics with each other
had extraordinarily large brains
mammals weighting 60kg usually have a brain 200cc (cubic centimeters)
homo sapiens today who weigh 60kg have a brain weighing 1200-1400cc
2.5 million years ago, the earliest men and women had smaller brains than we do today but compared to other animals it was still proportionally large and increased as humans evolved... view all notes
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
THE SCIENCE OF GASTRONOMY, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
glucose
a kind of sugar (the suffix "-ose" denotes a sugar)
glucose levels have much to do with how we feel, e.g. if we are hungry
after a meal, you accumulate glucose in your blood
gradually the level of glucose in your blood declines... view all notes
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
THE MODERN WORLD: GLOBAL HISTORY SINCE 1760, University of Virginia
one of the biggest effects of World War One was the rise of modern communism and the communism vs. anti-communism split was the biggest fault line of the new politics of the 1920s
war
ruling parties were not able to prevent the war, communism was portrayed as a solution that would prevent war
chaos
what takes the place of those shattered empires... view all notes
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANKIND, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
humans for most of their existence had large brains, the ability to produce and use tools and had complex social structures
however, they were weak and marginal in the ecosystem
yet in the last 100,000 years, humans ascended to the top of the food chain and became the most powerful and influential animals
how did humans make the jump to the top of the food chain?
one skill that helped them do this was the domestication of fire... view all notes
Friday, August 23, 2013
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR, The University of Melbourne
avoid anthropomorphism
e.g. are dolphins happy and content when free to jump in the water?
this is a bad question, since we have no way of knowing if dolphins are happy in the same way as humans are happy
we can, however, measure things like heart rate
cows are known to have higher heart rates when around certain other cows... view all notes
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANKIND, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
the significant revolution in the status of humans in the ecosystem came only after the appearance of our own species, Homo sapiens
appeared between 300,000 and 200,000 years ago in Africa
by 150,000 years ago, East Africa was populated with Homo sapiens which looked much like us
around 70,000 years ago, some of these Homo sapiens left East Africa and reached the Middle East and began spreading over the Eurasian land mass
when these Homo sapiens arrived, most of Eurasia was already populated with other species of humans, e.g. Homo neanderthalensis (Europe), Homo denisova (Siberia), and Homo soloensis (Java), this is one of history's biggest and most important questions: why did these other species of humans become extinct, and what role did Homo sapiens play in their extinction?... view all notes
Monday, August 26, 2013
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANKIND, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
for more than 2 million years, the earth was populated with a number of human species, not just one
from 2 million years ago to around 70,000 years ago, these human species were for the most part unimportant animals living in the middle of the food chain and had a small impact on the environment around them, and they had not done anything particularly influential
70,000 years ago something began to change:
Homo sapiens began migrating out of Africa
as they spread out onto the Eurasia land mass, they drove the other human species (e.g. Homo neanderthalensis [Europe], Homo denisova [Asia/Siberia], and Homo soloensis [Java]) into extinction... view all notes
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANKIND, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
something amazing started happening to Homo sapiens about 70,000 years ago which had to do with our language, the way we talk and think, it is our language which has made us the masters of this world
what is so special about Homo sapiens language
Homo sapiens are not the only animals with vocal communication abilities
other animals can communicate through less sophisticated sounds, or through chemicals in order to communicate information about the location of food, flowers, etc.
animal even use vocal languages, such as green monkeys... view all notes
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANKIND, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
what is it that makes human language so powerful?
talk about exterior events, e.g. where lions and food is
gossip about others in your group in order to know who you can best trust and cooperate with
human language is a fictive language, and is unique, no other animal does this
you can't convince a monkey to give you a banana by promising him that he will go to monkey heaven... view all notes
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
THE MODERN WORLD: GLOBAL HISTORY SINCE 1760, University of Virginia
after WWI the common sentiment was that Europe was a broken world
the certainties of the past seemed gone
human losses:
9-10 million people killed
10s of millions people damaged in some way, physically or psychologically... view all notes
Friday, August 30, 2013
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
THE ANCIENT GREEKS, Wesleyan University
meaning of "tyrant"
the modern meaning of the tyrant is extremely negative, suggesting brutality, greed, and lawlessness
the original Greek meaning of tyrant was "someone who seized power in a non-constitutional way and held it personally"
one of the ironies in ancient Greece is that tyranny was a necessary prelude to democracy
Corinth... view all notes
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANKIND, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
it is easy for us understand how primitive cultures believed in ghosts and spirits
it is harder for us to appreciate is that our own modern institutions such as banks, governments, and countries function on the same basis
the legend of Peugeot car company
one of the biggest and oldest car manufactures in Europe
began in 1896 as small village in North East France... view all notes
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