The MOOC Choice, I Caved...

Well Sunday was the first day of the week I got to sit down and actually get to some serious business, NFL Sunday Ticket, Ed800 Readings and catching up on my 831 by registering and starting my MOOC experience.

As the title indicates I decided to cave in my choice of MOOC. I'm already up to my neck in PD this year, and taking four classes this school year to finish up my masters degree. I chose the MOOC with in an area of great interest, and that is Sport and Society, offered on coursera by Duke professor Orin Starn. I always enjoyed anthropology in school and learning more about the history and the culture of sport was an easy choice for me. He had me hooked with his video entry.

The website hosting the course is easily accessible and signing up took minutes. The layout of the online course is very well done and each week's lessons, videos, and quizzes are clearly laid out. I loved the week one content on the introduction to sport and the origin of sport.

The presentation was 5 videos totalling about an hour of content. The required readings for week one were only about 15 pages. Once finished you are finished the readings and done watching the videos there is a small homework assignment, again all done online in your account. After that you  take on online quiz to "pass" that section. Pass all the sections and you are on your way to a coursera credit!

I learned quite a bit in the couple hours it took to complete week 1. Topics such as what makes something a sport, what are modern sport characteristics, and why do people love sport were all addressed in great detail.

I really liked the setup of week one and I look forward to the future lessons. It's really crazy to think about how many people can take courses in this format and how much "free" learning people can do in today's world!