I've been watching the lectures in Yuval Harari's Coursera course: A Brief History of Humankind. It's the history course that I've always wanted to take, and the lectures have been great so far.
I'm not really getting the full MOOC experience because I'm only watching the lectures--not doing quizzes, participating in forums, etc. But some quick thoughts on the video watching experience so far:
- The lecture experience is about as good as sitting in the front row of a large introductory class and better than sitting in the back row (which is where I usually sat in my big intro courses).
- The big advantage is that I can watch the videos whenever I want (I watch on the treadmill), and I can pause/rewind etc. as needed.
- Disadvantage is that I can't (yet) watch it with others. Would be nice to be able to watch the lectures with some friends. I think people should be able to meet up online to watch the videos together. They should be able to pause the common video, message each other, etc. Kinda like a google hangout version of a class. It's nice to have fellow students.
- Coursera's video technology, at least on my iPad, is not as good as YouTube, Netflix, etc. Doesn't show how far the video has played, can't full-screen easily, doesn't remember where it left off, no 10-second-replay button etc. I'm sure these are all easy fixes and will be resolved eventually.
- If I'm charged $10 to watch the rest of the lectures, I'll pay. Maybe that's how they can make money?
I'm not really getting the full MOOC experience because I'm only watching the lectures--not doing quizzes, participating in forums, etc. But some quick thoughts on the video watching experience so far:
- The lecture experience is about as good as sitting in the front row of a large introductory class and better than sitting in the back row (which is where I usually sat in my big intro courses).
- The big advantage is that I can watch the videos whenever I want (I watch on the treadmill), and I can pause/rewind etc. as needed.
- Disadvantage is that I can't (yet) watch it with others. Would be nice to be able to watch the lectures with some friends. I think people should be able to meet up online to watch the videos together. They should be able to pause the common video, message each other, etc. Kinda like a google hangout version of a class. It's nice to have fellow students.
- Coursera's video technology, at least on my iPad, is not as good as YouTube, Netflix, etc. Doesn't show how far the video has played, can't full-screen easily, doesn't remember where it left off, no 10-second-replay button etc. I'm sure these are all easy fixes and will be resolved eventually.
- If I'm charged $10 to watch the rest of the lectures, I'll pay. Maybe that's how they can make money?
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