Welcome to PRDV151: Bitcoin for Everybody

Specific information about this course and its requirements can be found below. For more general information about taking Saylor Academy courses, including information about Community and Academic Codes of Conduct, please read the Student Handbook.

Course Description

Explore the fundamental ideas behind Bitcoin, an open-source, strictly limited digital money that operates on a peer-to-peer network. Bitcoin offers protection against inflation, seizure, and stoppage of payments by third parties. This course is intended for people interested in learning some of the basic economics, investment, philosophy, and technical concepts of Bitcoin.

Course Introduction

Bitcoin represents a new, open internet standard for hard money. Bitcoin is increasingly being adopted as pristine collateral, a longer-term store of value, and unstoppable money. This course will take you through the basics of Bitcoin for beginners: Bitcoin economics, investment, philosophy, and history, as well as its technical and practical components. Once you have completed this course, you will have a basic level of Bitcoin knowledge and be able to start interacting with Bitcoin by buying, receiving, storing, and spending it.

This course includes the following units:

Unit 1: Bitcoin Economics. Unit 2: Bitcoin Investment. Unit 3: Bitcoin History and Philosophy. Unit 4: Bitcoin Technology. Unit 5: Bitcoin in Practice

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

[1] describe how Bitcoin and other monetary candidates arise on the market; [2] compare and contrast Bitcoin with other assets for investment or holding; [3] explain the key elements of Bitcoin's predecessors and Bitcoin's history, such as proof of work; [4] identify important features of Bitcoin's technology, such as the difficulty adjustment; [5] discuss methods for purchasing, storing, or sending Bitcoin and otherwise putting it into practice.

Throughout this course, you will also see learning outcomes in each unit. You can use those learning outcomes to help organize your studies and gauge your progress.

Course Materials

This course's primary learning materials are articles, lectures, and videos.

All course materials are free to access and can be found in each unit of the course. Pay close attention to the notes that accompany these course materials, as they will tell you what to focus on in each resource and will help you understand how the learning materials fit into the course as a whole. You can also see a list of all the learning materials in this course by clicking on Resources in the navigation bar.

Evaluation and Minimum Passing Score

Only the final examination is considered when awarding you a grade for this course. To pass this course, you will need to earn 70% or higher on the final exam. The exam will be password-protected and requires a proctor.

Your score on the exam will be calculated as soon as you complete it. There is a 14 days waiting period between each attempt. You may only attempt the final exam a maximum of 3 times. Be sure to study in between each attempt! If you do not pass the exam after 3 attempts, you will not complete this course.

There is also a practice exam that you may take as many times as you want to help you prepare for the final exam. The course also contains end-of-unit assessments in this course. The end-of-unit assessments are designed to help you study and do not factor into your final course grade. You can take these as many times as you want to until you understand the concepts and material covered. You can see all of these assessments by clicking on Quizzes in the course's navigation bar.

Tips for Success

PRDV151: Bitcoin for Everybody is a self-paced course, meaning you can decide when to start and complete the course. We estimate the "average" student will take 12 hours to complete. We recommend studying at a comfortable pace and scheduling your study time in advance.

Learning new material can be challenging, so here are a few study strategies to help you succeed:

  • Take notes on terms, practices, and theories. This helps you understand each concept in context and provides a refresher for later study.
  • Test yourself on what you remember and how well you understand the concepts. Reflecting on what you've learned improves long-term memory retention.

Technical Requirements

This course is delivered entirely online. You will need access to a computer or web-capable mobile device and consistent internet access to view or download resources and complete auto-graded assessments and the final exam.

To access the full course, including assessments and the final exam, log into your Saylor Academy account and enroll in the course. If you don’t have an account, you can create one for free here. Note that tracking progress and taking assessments require login.

For additional guidance, check out Saylor Academy's FAQ.


Optional Saylor Academy Mobile App

You can access all course features directly from your mobile browser, but if you have limited internet connectivity, the Saylor Academy mobile app provides an option to download course content for offline use. The app is available for iOS and Android devices.

Fees

This course is entirely free to enroll in and access. All course materials, including textbooks, videos, webpages, and activities, are available at no charge. This course also contains a free final exam and course completion certificate.

Last modified: Tuesday, 5 November 2024, 4:29 PM