Coursera - December 2014

Several courses finished in November: Modern and Contemporary Poetry from University of Pennsylvania, What Future Education from University of London, and Childbirth: A Global Perspective from Emory University. It is hard to compare them because they were so different. I enjoyed the variety of them…and looked forward to each week of new material. Earlier in my life, I chose courses largely based on the ‘fit’ toward my career goals. Now - the decision is based totally on my interests and I am discovered that my interests are very broad!

Two of the courses that started in October, continued through all of November and into December as well.

Water: The Essential Resource from National Geographic Society. The course is focused on teaching the topic to 4th-8th graders. I’ve learned some new things about the topic and about teaching.

Philosophy and the Sciences from the University of Edinburgh. The first part of the course was about cosmology and the second is about cognitive science. The presentations are informative about the science and thought provoking about the relationship between science and philosophy in these two areas.

Two new courses started in November and continue into December.

Origins - Formation of the Universe, Solar System, Earth, and Life from University of Copenhagen. The Cosmology section of the Philosophy and Sciences course dovetailed very well with the first weeks of the Origins course. Both presentations were very well done. At this point of the course, the discussion is on the ‘life’ part.  The snowball earth theory, impact of mass extinctions, and new DNA/molecular analysis to compare life forms are all new since I got my undergraduate degree in biology!

Recovering the Humankind’s Past and Saving the Universal Heritage from Sapienza University of Rome. This course has just started and is the only course that will continue through to January. I am already bracing myself; it will seem odd to only have one course for a few weeks! The first week of the course was thought provoking - pointing out the indications we have that people have not always viewed history or remains of prior cultures in the same way.

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.