It´s about MOOCing time

I finally finished a MOOC. Completed it. After I don´t know how many I have started - three, four, five? I must say I am quite proud of that because learning by MOOCing is quite hard.

Don't get me wrong. The courses are for the most part short, simplified versions of courses that are otherwise available from different universities - both top notch and not so top notch. The actual course material is probably just a scratch and sniff of the real deal.

But then again, I think, for your average C student at the majority of universities - how much more than that scratch and sniff do they actually pick up and retain? I should know more about this, or at least be able to point to a whole load of sources on the matter (that will have to be a later post). For now, I will have to rely on experience. Of the vast material presented to them, and if they actually read "the book", I hope for the core themes or at least the core message to be retained and presented in the exam. Flawed, usually, such student exams none the less manage to pull in a D. Their level of detailed knowledge and ability to critically address the material increased as the grade increases, but for the vast majority I hope for a C. Managing to grasp the core concepts, having some degree of detail and facts, and having some ability to apply that knowledge to cases or in exam questions is - for my grading scale at least - a C. And that is an okay grade.

Not so much when what you are taking to begin with is a shortened course to begin with. But hey - if I was out for the credit I would have signed up for a net-course somewhere and gone all in.

So I am pleased with having finished my tiny course. For having worked on a themes/course for four to six weeks, done the hand-ins and met people on line. It is nice to have the certificate to prove it - although my "certificate" is a cut and copy screenshot from the Coursera page. Still. Chuffed.

What is interesting though, is that while I am happy that I finished the course, I feel I learned something from all of them, also the one's I didn't finish. But the result of having completed one - yeah, I signed up for three more.