Getting educated
In my house, my DVR is never empty. Some shows have a tendency to stack up because we either watch them as a family or it's one of Craig's choices, and his time in front of the TV is limited. That means sometimes we watch things really, really late. It took us a year to watch the House finale. We have the entire last season of Fringe waiting for a marathon watch some weekend. Glee's last few episodes have been waiting for months because just when we were going to watch them, Cory Monteith died.
The shows that stack up the fastest are Colbert and Jon Stewart. That meant last night we were watching an episode of Colbert that originally aired some time in July, with a guest interview by an MIT professor named Anant Agarwal. He was on talking about his online learning opportunities called edX, which offer college courses online for free.
The idea is that education should be spread everywhere as easily as possible. You won't get a degree from this type of class (though you can get certificates of mastery if you want), but you will learn something, from professors from some of the world's best universities.
I am *so* doing this.
This is the only one I'm positive on so far: Science & Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science. It's the most practical amongst the fall options and probably the most fun.
Since that doesn't start until October, I'm thinking I will take two if not three in total. The problem is, trying to narrow down my options. They are:
The Ancient Greek Hero
Introduction to Biology - The Secret of Life
Ideas of the Twentieth Century
Fundamentals of Neuroscience, part 1
A Global History of Architecture: Part 1
Introduction to Human Evolution
Introduction to Bioethics
Age of Globalization
Take Your Medicine - The Impact of Drug Development
China
Our Energetic Earth
Energy 101
Look at how hard this decision is going to be! I like some of the classes because they just look interesting (greek hero, china), some because I think it's something I might use in research for stories (neuroscience, architecture), and others because it might be valuable information to have in today's modern age (energy, drug development).
The kids asked why I don't just go back to school and get another degree. Money and time. I can do these for free and on my own time. I'm not interested in pursuing advanced education (unless it meant doing theater again). I just want to continue learning what fascinates me.
The shows that stack up the fastest are Colbert and Jon Stewart. That meant last night we were watching an episode of Colbert that originally aired some time in July, with a guest interview by an MIT professor named Anant Agarwal. He was on talking about his online learning opportunities called edX, which offer college courses online for free.
The idea is that education should be spread everywhere as easily as possible. You won't get a degree from this type of class (though you can get certificates of mastery if you want), but you will learn something, from professors from some of the world's best universities.
I am *so* doing this.
This is the only one I'm positive on so far: Science & Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science. It's the most practical amongst the fall options and probably the most fun.
Since that doesn't start until October, I'm thinking I will take two if not three in total. The problem is, trying to narrow down my options. They are:
The Ancient Greek Hero
Introduction to Biology - The Secret of Life
Ideas of the Twentieth Century
Fundamentals of Neuroscience, part 1
A Global History of Architecture: Part 1
Introduction to Human Evolution
Introduction to Bioethics
Age of Globalization
Take Your Medicine - The Impact of Drug Development
China
Our Energetic Earth
Energy 101
Look at how hard this decision is going to be! I like some of the classes because they just look interesting (greek hero, china), some because I think it's something I might use in research for stories (neuroscience, architecture), and others because it might be valuable information to have in today's modern age (energy, drug development).
The kids asked why I don't just go back to school and get another degree. Money and time. I can do these for free and on my own time. I'm not interested in pursuing advanced education (unless it meant doing theater again). I just want to continue learning what fascinates me.