On MOOCs

I learnt about MOOCs early on when Coursera rolled out its test courses. It was an exciting experience and I  feverishly signed up for and participated in multiple courses. Naturally, I could not finish all that I had started as I was also juggling work, night classes and my social life. Disappointingly, I have only fully completed one course, Fantasy and Science Fiction. And by fully completing, I mean that I watched all the video lectures, read all the required texts, completed all the assignments on time and participated weekly in forums. (I do admit that some courses that I signed up for were too difficult for my mind that was too accustomed to arts and humanities, and I was not putting any effort into understanding the concepts).

Ever since the end of that class, I have been slacking off learning online and have instead fed my mind with shows series chosen had smart, witty dialogues, and great plots, I missed the aspect of learning and discovering new perspectives. 

The mind numbing activity of loading one's mind passively with drama became dulling so I started lining up books to read again. In between work and home, I have been scurrying to the library in an attempt to enrich my mind. But I missed learning from people and being part of a community.

Coursera recently posted a blog entry about an autistic boy. His loving father shared how MOOCs provided him with an safe space for learning and made him more confident. I liked the part where the boy describes the courses as "not impossible". That should be my outlook in learning and in life. 

The internet has transformed the world and I feel extremely lucky that I can tap on this free platform for university level courses from universities around the world. And I will take full advantage of this. Previously, I took the quick approach to learning online and had a tendency to speed through classes, But I will do it differently this time, and slowly savour the entire learning process, absorbing the knowledge that the lecturers freely share.