Education is very important in our world, it can give people the power to change their present and their future. Having access to free education is priceless and very significant when we talk about new technologies like blockchain, and the fields around it.
I recently finished the first ever Online Course in Decentralized Finance (DeFi), offered by the University of Nicosia, and I am here to post information and my honest review about it.
In this post I will cover the following:
- Information about this course
- Prerequisites for registering
- Why someone / Who should choose it
- Course Overview
- Course Outline
- Course Community
- What I especially liked about this course
- Certification
- Support/Contact
- What's next
About the course "Introduction to Decentralized Finance (DeFi)"
Introduction to Decentralized Finance is your ultimate guide to the revolutionary world of DeFi. In this course, you will familiarize yourself with the fundamentals of DeFi, its underlying technologies, popular applications, and transformative potential.
At the moment DeFi is considered to be one of the fastest developing blockchain innovations, having millions of users, hundreds of protocols and billions of dollars in value.
About DeFi
Did you know that the term DeFi was coined in 2018, first used in a Telegram Chat?
https://twitter.com/injeyeo/status/1157001562457174016
- injeyeo
Back then, right at the beginning of it all, a group of developers & entrepreneurs were trying to brainstorm a name for their movement of open financial services. source
As per Investopedia, the definition is:
Decentralized finance, or DeFi, is a system by which financial products become available on a public decentralized blockchain network. That makes them open to anyone to use, rather than going through middlemen like banks or brokerages [...]
Course Prerequisites
Are there any prerequisites for someone to join?
I would say that former knowledge of blockchain technology & terminology and some finance background would be useful for you to understand the material easier. However if you have the extra time to study and look up terms that you first meet in the course, you will do ok.
The course instructors suggest that before taking the DeFi class, it would be useful to enroll to their FREE MOOC - Introduction to Digital Currencies. (The first course of their Master)
You can read here my review and here you ll find the link directly for further information
Next MOOC starts in January 2022
Why should someone register & who is this course for?
When should you decide to take this course?
If you are already part of the Blockchain technology, in any way; if you already use DeFi platforms; if you wish to be well educated and well prepared; or even if you wish to proceed to the academic road, then this course is for you. The course is taught in English, so a good knowledge of verbal and written English is required.
The course requires no specialized knowledge in either computing, economics or finance. However, you are supposed to already have an introductory understanding of cryptocurrencies (like Bitcoin), Ethereum-based smart contracts and fundamental blockchain concepts
Some other reasons to join, as mentioned in the course's page?
- Here is your chance to become a part of the DeFi Revolution, at a course taught by experts in this field.
- The Registration and Course is free of charge and full interactive
- You get to join a like minded community, with members from all over the world!
Course Overview
So what will the student learn??
You will demystify the layer-1 protocols that enable DeFi, such as Ethereum, Solana and the Binance Smart Chain, and learn how applications such as decentralised exchanges, stablecoins, and algorithmic loans differ from their traditional counterparts.
By becoming familiar with innovations such as automated market makers (AMMs), decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs), flash loans, liquidity mining, and yield farming, you will gain comprehensive insight into how DeFi paves the way for innovations in governance, credit, derivatives, and interest-bearing instrument
Course Outline
The course runs over six sessions, covering three themes:
DeFi fundamentals (Sessions 1-2): An overview of what DeFi is and how it maps against traditional finance.
The DeFi application stack (Sessions 3-5): **A deep-dive on the components of the DeFi application stack, including decentralized exchanges, automated market making, lending and borrowing, liquidity mining, yield farming, decentralised insurance, synthetic assets, oracles, stablecoins, etc.
DeFi governance (Session 6): A discussion on algorithmic governance, its applications to DeFi and the future of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).
| Week | Title | Instructors |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | DeFi Fundamentals | Professor George Giaglis |
| 2 | DeFi infrastructure: Ethereum and other L1 protocols | Dr. Klitos Christodoulou |
| 3 | DeFi Applications I: Stablecoins, Lending and Borrowing | Professor George Giaglis |
| 4 | DeFi Applications II: Decentralised Exchanges, Synthetic Assets, Oracles, Insurance | Professor George Giaglis |
| 5 | Algorithmic Governane and DeFi Tokenomics | Professor George Giaglis |
| 6 | DeFi and Beyond | Antonis Polemitis |
Course Community
The students talked, and they listened. A new Discord Server but also a community in their e-learning platform connects the students from all around the world.
What I especially liked about this course
I appreciated their efforts to organize such a complete course, free of charge.
The student gets to use the learning platform, have access to educational material, is given the opportunity to ask questions and even gets access to the final exams.
Please note that for the Certification (which is received as an NFT) you will need to pay a fee.
(I paid it as a thank you for the course)
Support/Contact
Whenever I had a question, I always had an immediate response. There is also a chat option if you visit their website.
What's next?
Education never ends .. so every thing we learn, is actually a beginning in a new world. And that's how I feel.
The University of Nicosia has recently announced an Open Metaverse Initiative!
Make sure to visit this site for more: https://www.unic.ac.cy/the-university-of-nicosia-unic-announces-the-unic-open-metaverse-initiative
What is included?
- Academic / Professional Training Programmes
- Research & Policy
- Innovation and Entrepreneurialism
- NFTs on Campus
Excited?
What are your plans? Do you wish to join?
Sources & further reading
https://www.unic.ac.cy/openmetaverse/
https://www.unic.ac.cy/blockchain/free-defi-mooc/#tab-defimooc
@katerinaramm/first-open-online-course-introduction-to-defi-offered-by-the-university-of-nicosia
@katerinaramm/introduction-to-digital-currencies-mooc-9-by-university-of-nicosia