I have joined a MOOC(Massive Open Online Course) in Coursera, and I really like how it worked. I searched the keyword, music, as my topic, and there were many courses related to my preferences. Then, I chose a beginner level course, which called Fundamentals of Music Theory. The course was offered by the University of Edinburgh. I felt surprised that the course was totally free, and I was able to access all the course materials and lectures. There were six instructors in this course, and the instructor rating and the course rating were shown under the name of the course, which was really high. Meanwhile, six-week courses were available, and each week had different main concept related to music theories. There were approximate 12 hours to complete in the six weeks. Specifically, the lectures were all recorded, so it was a kind of individual learning. It was nice that I could study at my own pace, and I usually spent my leisure time to acquire the knowledge. In order to make sure whether or not I fully understand the lecture content, I was able to take the knowledge check each week; the quiz each week would show my grade, which also helped me to better absorb what I learned.
Moreover, compared to this learning experience to the traditional courses taking at school, it removes the barriers of time and distance. Since the courses in Coursera are mostly offered by universities and colleges, this kind of online learning increase the number of people who are able to take classes at the university level. In terms of the learning process, it is an individual and self-directed learning. There are rarely interactions between teachers and students, this MOOC would be considered an xMOOC(Extended Massive Open Online Course). Furthermore, based on my experiences, I would consider xMOOC to be “Open”, because there are abundant university- level OER(open educational resources) and learning quiz, and they are available to everyone who want to learn.
In terms of why I chose this learning activity, it allows me to know one more useful MOOC provider, which is really helpful for me to acquire more high-quality knowledge outside of school schedule. Another reason is that this activity aligned with one of my learning goals; the goal is to learn how digital identity could affect students learning, and how it could help my future study. In this case, since I logged in to the online learning platform, Coursera, in order to join in the courses, my digital identity is a resident. I am sure this digital identity in this platform would help me to search and learn what I wish to learn, and the courses are at university level, which is beneficial for me to learn more academic knowledge now and in the future. Overall, this xMOOC platform, Coursera, helps me a lot, and if I were to rate it, I would give it a nice score.
References:
Leave a Reply