Progression of Spring Semester Classes - March 2014

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My enthusiasm for the Coursera courses I am taking continues.

Two are completing: How to Change the World (from Wesleyan University) and Moralities of Everyday Life (from Yale University). There is one more week of An Introduction to the US Food System (from Johns Hopkins University). I learn something from every course I take….but these three are ones that prompted thinking about how I live, picking causes worthy of support either through action or donation, and changing my behavior for the good of society and the planet.

A new class started this week: Archaeology’s Dirty Little Secrets (from Brown University). I’ve already enjoyed the first set of videos and the suggested readings.

There is a new module in the Nutrition course (from Vanderbilt University) I took last spring on Food allergies and intolerances. I signed up for the course again just for that new material.  

And then there is the Volcanic Eruptions (from Ludwig Maximilians Universitat Munich) that was offered last fall. I somehow overlooked it then (or maybe I was too busy with other courses). The content was still available on the Coursera site - so I am making my way through the 10 weeks of materials.

The Roman Architecture course (from Yale University) is continuing - it’s a 15 week course that started in January. I find myself reading architecture books with pictures and diagrams of Greek and Roman buildings on the Internet Archive. The course has given me a sharper eye for architectural detail already!

Previous posts: 

The First Weeks of Class - February 2014

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I’m through the first weeks of Coursera classes that started in January (posted about last month before they started).  I thought that 4 courses might be a little overwhelming…..and that has turned out to be true. All of them are well done and the topics are well-honed to my interests; dropping one is not an option. So - I have a flurry of activity to keep up. I’ve dedicated one day a week to each course and then use the other three days to read extra resources and follow threads outside the course entirely.

The Roman Architecture course is furthest along. I find myself looking at buildings differently; there are still a lot of elements of Roman Architecture is buildings constructed long after the end of the Roman Empire. The Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC is one example (the picture below is one I took of the monument a few years ago during the spring cherry blossoming). One of the threads I followed outside the immediate course material this past week was finding out how the impluviums actual worked; it wasn’t just catching/holding water….it was often an pervious basin that allowed water to filter down into a cistern which was then used by the residence as a source of cool water!

The three other courses (How to Change the World, Moralities of Everyday Life, and An Introduction to the US Food System) are all thought provoking. There are times they seem to converge rom their varying perspectives on the same topic: how can individuals live in a way that is good for them and good for the rest of planet (people and everything else on Earth). They are all very focused on the present and the possible futures we are creating - sometimes with intention and sometimes not.

The whole motivation for taking classes is very different for me now than it was back in my 20s. Then I was focused on getting a degree that would lead into a career. Now I am takings classes primarily because I enjoy being a student! I am taking courses about things I was always interested in but didn’t need for my degrees. Since I am not interested in a grade or certificate, generally avoid tests and time consuming projects....focus instead on going off on tangents that spin out from the course materials. What a difference the Internet has made in how students can find answers to questions!

Signing up for New Classes in the New Year - 2014

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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.