No, Cecil didn’t have a run in with a bovine; it’s Sue making a rare appearance on the feed!
Last night, on a whim, I decided to enroll in a massive open online course (or MOOC). It’s a four week class offered through Coursera called “A New History for a New China, 1700-2000: New Data and New Methods, Part 1” by Byung-Ho Lee and James Z. Lee of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology*.
I’ve read about the MOOC concept and am interested to see how the whole process works. After listening to classes through The Great Courses over the years (I particularly liked the History of Ancient Egypt and Great American Music: Broadway Musicals) and trying a class on iTunes U (The Civil War and Reconstruction Era by David Blight of Yale) I’m really intrigued by adding the interactive component.
Class officially begins Monday so thus far I’ve registered – which essentially means creating an account on the website by giving them my name, email and location – and nosing around the course pages a bit. The course homepage contains links to the course outline, grading scheme, teachers’ bios, discussion forums, and a wiki for the class.
Grading scheme???? Eep! What have I gotten myself into? After reading that there will be a brief quiz each week and an open book final exam, it looks like there’s no need to fret – yet.
Even though we’re still 2 days, 11 hours and 14 minutes before class starts (I know this thanks to the helpful timer on my dashboard page) there’s a lot of action over on the discussion board. So far it seems to be falling into two groups. First people are discussing where to find the recommended texts. Then people are introducing themselves and saying where they’re from – so far I’ve seen Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, England, France, Georgia, Germany, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Israel, Mexico, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sri Lanka, Viet Nam and lots from China. Wow! I can’t wait to see what class discussions are like!
So, that’s where I currently am with this adventure. The first lecture video will be available in 2 days, 11 hours and 10 minutes.
* As a brief note, I’m leaving the course content to the folks at Coursera. If you actually have interest in A New History for a New China, 1700-2000, ask me later.