Newbie needs reference on MatLab Self-paced, online course

I'm a newbie to MatLab and are considering paying for the online, self-paced course called MatLab fundamentals. I'm seeking opinions from anyone who's taken the course regarding:

1. Was it worthwhile?
2. Were your questions that came up during the course well answered?
3. If yes to 2) then how did you submit the questions and in what form were they answered.
4. How was the quality of the browser-based video? The audio?

Any other inputs and/or recommendations would be highly appreciated.

[Ryan]

I have never taken the course, so I am not putting this in an answer, but I think the beauty of Matlab is that it is very intuitive. If you have knowledge of general programming procedures (such loops, logic, matrices) I do not think that you'll need a course, and if you don't most colleges use Matlab in some way and often those lesson plans and notes (especially for introductory courses) are easily found online.

If you have basic coding knowledge and just want to learn the Matlab language and are on the fence about a class, start by reading some of the introductory material on the Mathworks site in addition to beginners guides that can be found through Google. Matlab Central is full of resources as well and fun games (such as Cody, which I just started doing) that help you learn tricks of the trade. I have found that just by reading the Answers section and attempting to derive solutions on my own that my Matlab knowledge has expanded greatly. There is so much quality help available online for free that I would definitely evaluate your needs and personal learning preferences before paying for a course.

[K E]

If I had to pay for it myself and I had a little time to teach myself, I would prefer the free online materials that have been mentioned here. If my employer was paying and time was tight, I would take the course. Just my 2 cents. If you search for "introduction to matlab", you will pull up plenty of getting started guides, then later Mathwork's documentation and Matlab Answers may be helpful.

Answer 1

[Rolfe Dlugy-Hegwer]

While you're learning MATLAB, check out Loren Shure's article on that topic at: http://blogs.mathworks.com/loren/2009/04/21/learning-matlab/ Excerpt: "Do you learn best by reading, watching, or doing? I do best with a combination of all three for learning technical material."

Answer 2

[Rolfe Dlugy-Hegwer]

Also look at these free resources: * Interactive MATLAB & Simulink Based Tutorials * MATLAB Central Blogs * Recorded Webinars * Doug's MATLAB Video Tutorials