Have any of you ever taken a MOOC? I seem to recall there were a number of folks a year or so ago who were excited about a science fiction class and possibly a poetry class. I don’t recall getting a sense during or after how the experience went. I’m curious because I came across a class on T.S. Eliot that looks really tempting. I can’t tell if it is a continuous class or has already run. Either way, all the lectures are online so I could technically start at any time. It might be nice to do since I just got that copy of Four Quartets. I could have an Eliot binge beginning this coming weekend. Would there be anyone interested in joining in the fun of this self-paced class?
As if Eliot wouldn’t be enough, I had to go poking around to see what else was on offer. There is a class starting October 15th that goes for eight weeks called Plagues, Witches, and War: The Worlds of Historical Fiction. What is especially interesting about this course is that the first half is readings and the second half is on the craft of writing historical fiction and will include five guest novelists: Jane Allison, Geraldine Brooks, Yangzse Choo, Katherine Howe, and Mary Beth Keane. I have no interest in writing historical fiction but it would be interesting to hear what the novelists had to say about the process of it.
Then there is The Modern and the Postmodern which is set for February 4, 2014 and lasts 14 weeks. The syllabus is online and one of the assignments is to watch Blade Runner. There is also plenty of Foucault and Virginia Woolf makes an appearance too.
In November there is a module from a larger survey course on Walt Whitman. It isn’t clear how long it lasts or what the reading is so it is hard to get excited about that one.
MIT has an interesting course that appears to be self-paced on Travel Literature. The reading list is long and interesting. I don’t see any video lectures but there are lots of background and supporting materials.
While I was looking around I also found two websites that appear to keep track of MOOCs for the humanities, Class Central humanities and MOOC List.
So many interesting things to do online for free! I do want to do Eliot but that historical fiction one is tempting too. Maybe I can start Eliot, leave off in October for eight weeks for the historical fiction and then pick up Eliot again. Hmm, something to think about!
I’d be interested in the TS Eliot course.
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Kathleen, really? Would you like to do it at the same time? And if so, can you start this Saturday or at another not so very distant time?
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Hi Steph, I don’t know much about how it works, so I’m not sure how we ‘work together,’ but I’d love that. Of all the days I could start, this weekend won’t work. Maybe I can go on the website today and see how the whole process works. Then I’d have a better idea of the process. I could start either Friday or Monday.
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Hi again, I went to the course and started listening to the lectures. I don’t see anyplace where there is an expectation that students do any assignments or have discussions. Perhaps we could do our own discussions – including anyone else who wants to participate. If we’re going to do that, can we set up a special way to chat – so it doesn’t go through your book website? Maybe there’s something on Facebook. I’ll check that out. I don’t do very much on Facebook, but the course web said sign-in through FB was the preferred method. Will let you know. I’ve finished the first section – background and biog on Eliot. Just started the section on Naturalism. I like his focus on looking at what people and ideas influenced TSE.
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Kathleen, I sent you an email, I hope you don’t mind!
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No Four Quartets in the T.S. Eliot course, sad to say…
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Pedro David, no, sadly no Four Quartets in the course but it seems it might be a good over all opportunity to get to know Eliot and I will add my own “module” of Four Quartets🙂
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Yes, I took a course on Isaiah Berlin, offered by an Oxford chap, a few years ago. Not much to do with poetry or literature, but a great deal on philosophy. I found the general experience nothing like a classroom situation so it’s unlikely I’ll take another online course.
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Richard, no I don’t expect the general experience would be much like a classroom and I suspect it is even different from the online classes I took for my library degree which were small and limited and required participation. It’s the massive part of the equation that has me wondering how good these can be.
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Oooh, I’ve been thinking of doing this forever, and am currently considering Coursera’s Comic Books and Graphic Novels, but haven’t taken the plunge. I’m very curious to read what your commenters’ experience is with these. I don’t think self-paced is for me because the pace would be slow and then likely dropped all together (unless I found the perfect topic). Thanks for the links, more places for me to look!
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I just signed up for Søren Kierkegaard – Subjectivity, Irony and the Crisis of Modernity. Wish me luck.
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Isabella, oh, you brave soul! Good luck. I hope you mention on your blog how it it going. Self-paced is not impossible for me but it is hard because it is easy to find an excuse not to. That’s one reason I am curious about signing up for a class. I could still drop out but the act of signing up tells my brain to take it more seriously.
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You know the little sister syndrome? Whatever the elder does the younger wants to follow – I think I am suffering from that! After all the books I have read and all the events I have participated because you wrote about them, it now seems course time! Have a sneaky feeling that I will end up signing up for Plagues, Witches, and War: The Worlds of Historical Fiction. But as of now I am resisting…already in too many projects! Can’t keep up with one more!🙂
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cirtnecce, LOL, as an elder sister I am familiar with that syndrome! I know what you mean about too many projects. I have loads swimming in my head but can’t seem to settle on any of them. I am resisting the historical fiction class but I might end up signing up for it eventually as the date draws nearer because it is interesting and to assuage my curiosity over what these classes are like. If you sign up too we could have our own discussions.🙂 (Was that evil of me?)
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You are baiting me!🙂 But I might really end up taking the course…I like what they have planned and its history+fiction, so I have very little chance of resisting such intellectual seduction. So if big sister joins, even more awesome! P.S. I am the younger sister as you might have guessed!
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Heh, I should have guessed you are a younger sister by your comment!🙂 I have decided to sign up for the course! I might not manage all the reading but I think the lectures and author discussions on their own will be really interesting. So if you feel so inclined…then we can have email chats about it all as we go along if you like (unless you prefer Twitter or some other method of chatting)🙂
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Hello! I signed up to!🙂
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Yay!
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We should exchange email ids/twitter ids etc!🙂
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Teresa at Shelf Love took the comic book course, I think.
I looked over the historical fiction course – it looks great. The question any – what shall we call ourselves – adult learner has to ask himself is what he needs with the course, especially with an artificial schedule and without the social interaction. I am constantly designing my own courses, so to speak. One positive spillover of all of these free public courses will be lots of expert reading lists for readers to borrow.
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Tom, that is a good question you bring up. I think for me in the case of the historical fiction class it would be for access to the lectures and the discussion by the novelists as well as the imposed schedule. All the free public classes have provided so many great reading lists and and I have collected a few but have yet to actually do anything about it. My brain is so well conditioned for school that I think if I sign up for a class with a schedule to it I am more likely to actually do it. At least I am when I pay for a class, not sure what my conditioning will do when my brain realizes the class is free and doesn’t matter and something else more appealing comes along!
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What a co-incidence. I was going through these courses in coursera just last week, and I was sorely tempted by the Plagues, Witches one…alas, I am not sure I have the time to do justice to it. But one day, I am definitely going to take the plunge.
Looking forward to hearing your feedback once you do these classes.
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Nish, oh that’s too funny! It could be fun if there were several of us taking it at the same time. We could have our own discussion instead of trying to sort out the discussion forum of thousands. Something to think about!🙂
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I’ve audited a couple of these and found that they take far more time than predicted and I’ve had trouble with the assessment methodologies as well. Compared with the sciences the humanities seem to come off poorly in this area and I suspect it is because traditionally they rely on so much student interaction to work at their best. There is a new platform based in the UK, FutureLearn, opening on the 18th. They have asked in advance what areas students are interested in and the Humanities has been far and away the most popular so it will be interesting to see what they are offering.
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Alex, classes of any sort always take more time than predicted in my experience. I figure it is either because the time estimate is wrong or I am slow or an over-achiever. I like to think it is the first and last of those and not the second one! I am bothered by the assessment methodologies too and wouldn’t bother doing any of the assignments, being “graded” by classmates who may or may not have the skills to assess the work of others, well, not pleased with that. FutureLearn sounds like an interesting prospect. Will keep an eye out for that one to see what they offer. Thanks for you input regarding your experience!
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I’ve toyed with the idea of doing these before but never taken the plunge as I always have so much going on with my reading anyway–I am not sure I could devote myself to it. I do like the idea, though, of getting a little more guided information/teaching on the subject. And the reading lists would be cool–but could I keep up with all the actual reading? You’ll have to let us know how the TS Eliot class goes! I will at least check out that historical fiction course as I do love the genre (though I’ve not been reading much of it lately). Thanks for the links.
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Danielle, I think since the syllabus is online beforehand one would have to start the reading early or only read the portions of the work assigned and then come back to finish it later, says someone who hasn’t even taken one of the classes yet!😉 I am on the fence about the historical fiction class. I might sign up just to see what it is like and for the lectures and not worry about whether or not I can keep up with the reading. There is not grade after all! I will certainly let you know how Eliot goes.
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As Tom said, I did take a comics course earlier this year, specifically on gender in comics. It was an OK experience, but my enthusiasm for it waned as it went on. I think the classes are just too big for useful interaction to happen. In that class, if you didn’t have time to do the whole unit as soon as it posts, by the time you got to the message boards, all the interesting points were made and there were just too many posts to look through.
I’m technically enrolled in a Modern Poetry course with Coursera that’s in its first week, although I haven’t done much with it. I’m already seeing signs of the same problem I had with the comics course. I read one of the poems this weekend, shortly after the unit launched, went to the message boards, and saw it had already been discussed to death and immediately lost interest. The nice thing about that course is that there’s a local study group that meets in person, so if I did want to spend time on it and get some real-time interaction, there’d be a way to do so. I think that’s pretty much what I’d have to do–find a smaller group to discuss the material with, whether in-person or online.
I don’t see them as something I’m likely to work through and complete, but I may continue to enroll in them and dip in and out of the parts that interest me.
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Teresa, oh thank you for sharing your experience! I wondered about what sort of discussion could possibly be had with so many people taking the class. It seemed impossible and you confirmed it. I think having a small discussion group in person or online separate from the class is an excellent and far more beneficial idea/experience. Perhaps I will sign up for the historical fiction class and do as you have done, just dip in and out as it interests me or just show up for the second half of the class when the novelists make their guest appearances.
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I’m taking Coursera’s ModPo for the second time because half way through, I petered out. Watch the videos! This is where you’ll get the meat of the course and you’ll see how grad school is done at an ivy league school. I didn’t have a thing to do with the discussion groups, too massive, but I did join the FB group and check it periodically. (I understand TAs have “office hours” and are available for questions.) Print out the poems and follow the discussions, you will not be disappointed. Prof Al and students are really so bright, engaging and interesting!
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Ann, thanks for sharing your experience and the advice!
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I had to look up MOOC. Had no idea what that was. As an adult who is finished with formal education, I love this because I never want to stop learning. How fascinating. Thank you, Stefanie! I thought a couple of the courses looked very interesting. I might challenge myself with something totally out in left field – like one of the science courses. What is there to lose?
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Grad, for adults who want to explore a topic these course are a great opportunity, aren’t they? There is lots of talk about them in library-land and in academia because they are seen as disruptive to the standard educational model. But I don’t think they can ever replace a genuine university education. Don’t some of the science classes seem fun? I think about giving one of them a try now and then too. If you sign up for one, you must share about it!
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