As the week winds down, we wind down with some tidbits for your information, education, health, and enjoyment.
Quote of the Week:Â “Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.” Will Durant
Humor Break:
Bev: How did you do on your online philosophy final exam?
Al: I think the professor was nuts. The whole final exam was “Is this a question?â€
Bev: Yikes, how do you respond to that?
Al: I wrote: “If that is a question, then this is an answer.”
Stat of the Week: 6 tips from a Coursera junkie. Regular readers of this Blog know I use almost any excuse to promote the newish free online university level classes. This week I tip my hat to a young man who is more obsessed than I am. He is a 21-year-old pursuing a dual-degree program in engineering and biophysics from Dartmouth and Amherst, but in the last year or so, he’s also completed 36 online courses (MOOCs). His six tips for choosing an online course are excellent, although his sixth tip is his favorite all time course. Up until last week I would have agreed with him. Now I place it as #2. Social Psychology is just starting and the first two weeks have me convinced it is the best demonstration yet of the power of MOOCs. And it’s not too late to join this class.
AP Education Writer Justin Pope wrote an article for ABC News: The ABCs of MOOCs: What It’s Like to Enroll. I loved this quote from the article: “About 39,600 signed up for ‘The Challenges of Global Poverty’ and I was among 4,600 who finished. I passed, if not exactly with flying colors, and was emailed a PDF of the ‘certificate of mastery’ to prove it — my very own quasi-credential from MIT. The experience was enlightening, both on the subject matter and the potential for MOOCs generally. I learned more than I expected, and worked harder than I expected. I took a course for free from two leading experts in a field that’s of great personal interest — a remarkable opportunity. For millions around the world who lack access to quality teaching, the MOOC-backers are right: This is a revolution.â€
Unfortunately he goes on to explain what MOOCs don’t do. As I have said previously, critics need to understand and communicate that MOOCs aren’t trying to do it all. Think of it as a carpenter might – he needs a hammer (MOOCs), but he doesn’t try to saw with it. MOOCs are just one (very important) tool in the tool bag.
Action Tip: If you haven’t tried a MOOC yet, now is the time. It is the new school year.  There is a wide variety of course options.  If you aren’t sure where to start, join with me and several friends in the excellent, excellent Social Psychology course. And remember, you only have to do those parts that appeal to you and your learning goals!
Self-Development Corner: September is a busy, busy month for online learning. The month kicks off with what promises to be one of the most important courses offered online this year, one every reader of this post should consider and one we give our highest recommendation. It is also a short course with a light workload. We implore all our readers to invest their time in New Models of Business in Society (Sept. 2, 5 weeks, University of Virginia).
There are other business courses worthy of our attention next week including an introductory course Foundations of Business Strategy (Sept. 2, 6 weeks, University of Virginia) and a personal course on how each of us can use our talent to be more creative – Creativity, Innovation, and Change (Sept. 1, 8 weeks, Penn State University).
If money is of interest (pun intended), you might want to invest in Economics of Money and Banking, Part One (Sept. 1, 7 weeks, Barnard College, Columbia University), or possibly profit from Metadata: Organizing and Discovering Information (Sept 2, 8 weeks, University of North Carolina).
Computer courses abound next week. There is a course for those of you living in the highly technical side of computers: Algorithms: Design and Analysis, Part 2 (Sept 2, 6 weeks, Stanford University). Other courses include Linear and Integer Programming (Sept 2, 9 weeks, University of Colorado); a non-tech course Networked Life (Sept 3, 7 weeks, University of Pennsylvania); Introduction to Recommender Systems (Sept 3, 14 weeks, University of Minnesota); Analysis of Algorithms (Sept 6, 6 weeks, Princeton University).
Finally, for our many readers who are in health professions or have a general interest in health topics, this week offer two courses with opportunity for growth and development: An Introduction to Global Health (Sept 2, 8 weeks, University of Copenhagen); Vaccines (and Vaccine Safety) (Sept 3, 9 weeks, University of Pennsylvania)
Happy learning!
Bill Bradley
Bill Bradley (mostly) retired after 35 years in organizational consulting, training and management development. During those years he worked internally with seven organizations and trained and consulted externally with more than 90 large and small businesses, government agencies, hospitals and schools.
