Coursera Experience - November 2014

There are a lot of courses that are continuing into November from September and October.

Modern & Contemporary American Poetry. The most time-consuming of the courses. The close reading videos of the instructors and TAs are worth the time. I may not like all the poetry styles but the course has broaden by awareness of poetry that either had not been written or was not presented when I was in college in the 1970s.

What future for education? - I am enjoying the interviews that are the core of the videos for the course but the big item I’ve learned from this course is about the importance of reflection before and after learning experiences. I’ve changed by behavior to include reflection before and after Coursera videos for each course. Sometimes the instructors have prompting questions that make it easy and sometimes I have to invent my own. I’ve also incorporated the idea into my nature hikes for children: asking what they know about the topic of the hike before we set out….and then prompting question about something new they learned or why it was important.

Childbirth: A Global Perspective - This course has a very good mix of summary statistics and case studies for individual countries around the world. The big take away for me has been how linked childbirth issues are related to other issues like the status of women in the society, the medical infrastructure, and obesity (the overabundance of food) or malnutrition (too little food).

Water: The Essential Resource - There is a lot of interest in water around the world - and where the amount of water is changing either because of climate change, pollution, or depletion. The class focuses on a curriculum for California schools but is broadly applicable. There are great resources for case studies.  I’ve already been able to apply some of the ideas in nature hikes for school children about soil/erosion and water runoff around schools.

Philosophy and the Sciences - I’m always impressed with the way University of Edinburgh brings together instructors with complementary backgrounds to present the material in their MOOCs. The course is divided into two sections to demonstrate the relationship between philosophy and the sciences: cosmology and cognitive science. We are still in the cosmology part of the course. Last week half the lecture was done with the instructor writing on a white board….just like in a physical class (but without having to peer around the head of the person in front of you!).

Fortunately - three of the courses will be ending in November because two more are starting!

Recovering the Humankind Past and Saving the Universal Heritage - This one is just now posting materials.

Origins - Formation of the Universe, Solar System, Earth and Life - I didn’t realize when I signed up that this course would mesh with the Philosophy and Sciences course!  It will be starting about the time the segment on cosmology ends.

Coursera Experience - September 2014

September is going to be a lull in terms of Coursera courses. For most of the weeks I will only have one or two courses. That is probably a good thing since I am attending classroom-based volunteer naturalist training during the month as well.  There is no shortage of learning opportunities!

The Globalization and Social Psychology courses are ended…although there is still some reading to do. Both of them were among the more thought provoking classes I’ve taken.

The Camera Never Lies is providing another insight into history and historians. I’ve appreciated the lectures which have included interviews with history grad students. I have considerable reading and video to view for this course as well.

The Symmetry course has been enlightening on several levels. I particularly enjoyed the references to tiling. The segment of the course that focuses on crystals is just starting and I expect it will be as challenging as the Systems Biology or Volcano courses earlier this year.

I am looking forward to the American Poetry course starting soon and am anticipating that I’ll be celebrating how different it is than courses I have been taking recently.

October is going to be overwhelming. There are 4 courses I added to my list….and now that I am looking at the list again, I still want to take all of them!

Signing up for New Classes in the New Year - 2014

Just like traditional universities, Coursera has classes starting this month. It is challenging to pick - and I have probably overindulged by enrolling in 4:

Roman Architecture from Yale University because I’ve never taken an architecture class - it’s a different perspective on history. Also - this will be my first course from Yale.

Moralities of Everyday Life from Yale University because the increased lack of civility within political discourse in the US seems linked to ideas about morality. That makes the topic much more reality rather than theoretically focused.

How to Change the World from Wesleyan University because I thoroughly enjoyed Michael Roth’s previous course on Coursera: The Modern and Postmodern.

An Introduction to the US Food System: Perspectives from Public Health from Johns Hopkins University because it seems like our food system has been changing very quickly although it is difficult to grasp the changes as a whole…and the impact on health. It is a complex topic.

In addition, I signed up for Nutrition, Health, and Lifestyle: Issues and Insights from Vanderbilt for the one new lecture: Food Allergies and Intolerances: Separating Fact from Fiction. I took the course last spring/summer and it honed my understanding of nutrition in a way that helped me take off the last 15 pounds (to down to the weight I was at 25!).

I’m sure they will all have some extra reading that will supplement the videos. I’m planning on allocating a day of each week to each of one….and then using the other days of the week to catch the overflow. The courses do have to fit into the rest of life. I generally do the multiple choice knowledge checks embedded in the videos but not the quizzes or other assignments. I’m not after a grade and I prefer to talk about topics from the course with people I interact with face to face rather than other students virtually.

There was an article recently about MOOCs not living up to their original goal of online education approaching the quality of traditional colleges to the large population all over the world without access to such institutions. That is probably the case but, through refinement by iteration, they could improve on that goal. I’d like to suggest that MOOCs have an even larger role in society in the realm of lifelong learning - in enhancing the quality of life particularly for those that are long past the traditional college age. I’d like to see the end of course surveys probe this aspect. It would be interesting to know not just how many people did everything the course required to get a certificate or credit but how many students completed a subset like:

• Watched all the videos
• Read the online (free) references
• Scan parts of the discussion form
• Read all the references

In my case, I generally do the first three --- and get what I want from the course. A certificate or credit is not something I need.

It would also be interesting to find out how many people would be willing to pay some amount for the lectures to defray the cost of producing them. What amounts would be tolerated? Or does a charging scheme get too complicated to administer?

The bottom line for me is - I enjoy the Coursera offerings. I applaud the universities and professors that are participating. It is a positive development in education and the experiment has already succeeded for those of us that see these courses as a potent addition to lifelong learning.