My Global Philosophy Course

Wall Street Journal ^ | 05/04/2013 | Michael S. Roth

[SeekAndFind]

When I mention online learning to my colleagues at Wesleyan University, most respond initially with skepticism. But based on my experience, I know that real learning can take place on the Web.

I am currently teaching a massive online open course, or MOOC, on Coursera. Most MOOCs have great attrition, and mine is no exception: There were almost 30,000 students registered at the start, yet 4,000 remain active as we near the end of the semester. Unlike most MOOCs, which focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, mine is a classic humanities course. "The Modern and the Postmodern" starts off in the 18th century with Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Immanuel Kant, and we work our way toward the present.

When I tell people about my course, they often fixate on its size, and I have to admit that initially I was awe-struck by the number and variety of students. Study groups in Bulgaria and India, in Russia and Boston made me giddy at the reach of this kind of class. Yet despite the diversity of my students' academic preparation, age, national origin and economic status, most of their concerns echo those I've heard over many years of teaching: Can I get an extension? My computer ate my homework. I don't like my grade.

But there are other comments that I don't regularly hear in the classroom. One of the more interesting threads on our online discussion board focused on the question: "Why do you feel that you need to learn at all?"

[Gen.Blather]

I think that online home schooling is the way to go. I took an entire MBA online. It was wonderful. There is no reason why you need to subject your kids to lockdowns and Michelle lunches or drugs or beatings or shootings.

[Fiji Hill]

Homeschoolers and autodidacts would be interested in An Old-Fashioned Education, a gateway site for online curricula, lesson plans, literature and textbooks, all of which are free.

[max americana]

One of our graphics editors never went to school and he’s one of our most creative guys. He admit he learned the essentials from...Youtube.

[Kevmo]

Unlike most MOOCs, which focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics,
***I didn’t know that. I have some catching up to do.

Note: When I suggested such a thing as a business idea to my wife in the early 1990’s, she characterized it as “piracy”. No doubt if I proposed a business idea like it today, she would think it was ingenious.