Posted on 06/08/2016 9:40:52 PM PDT by iowamark
On July 18, 2016, the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa will open the new MOOC Whitman's Civil War: Writing and Imaging Loss, Death, and Disaster. This free open online course will embark upon a journey through Walt Whitman's writings on the American Civil War. Through Whitman's lens, we will explore how writing and image can be used to examine war, conflict, trauma, and reconciliation - in Whitman's time and today. Join us!
This MOOC will be taught by longtime friends and collaborators Ed Folsom, Whitman scholar and University of Iowa Roy J. Carver Professor of English; and Christopher Merrill, IWP Director and University of Iowa Professor of English.
| FREE REGISTRATION |
This MOOC is freely available to everyone in the world; there is no cost to register. Click the "Sign Up" button to register.
| JULY 18-SEPTEMBER 5, 2016 WEEKLY VIDEO CLASSES, READINGS, AND CREATIVE ASSIGNMENTS |
Whitman's Civil War will be taught in English as follows: each week, instructors Folsom and Merrill will post a new video class. In this video class, they will discuss the readings for the week (all accessible online) and offer questions for you to discuss with the teaching team.
Each week, a new assignment will challenge you to respond creatively to the class video and readings. This assignment will be multi-genre: you could respond to it by writing a poem or a short nonfiction piece, trying your hand at the art of letters or memoir, or creating a journalistic op-ed or a photojournalism essay. Each assignment will be followed by community feedback with your fellow MOOC students.
| LIVE INTERACTIVE TEACHING |
Each week, an experienced teaching team with expertise in literature, poetry, nonfiction, journalism, and photojournalism will lead live discussions of the video topics, readings, and assignments around the clock in the MOOC discussion forum.
| INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY |
No previous experience in literature, writing, or any other course subject is necessary. This MOOC will bring together readers, writers, artists, students, and teachers around the world. Some of you are already deeply familiar with Walt Whitman's writings; others are new to his work. Participants who are nonnative speakers of English, new to online learning, and/or new to writing are encouraged to join this new international community. Our community moderators will actively support your participation.
| WORKLOAD |
The amount of time you devote to this MOOC is up to you. If you wish to engage with the class video and reading, discuss with the teaching team, complete the assignment, and participate in community feedback, we estimate that this will require 5 or more hours of your time per week. Some MOOC participants will spend more time; others will spend less. No particular commitment is required: join us whenever you can!
| MOOC CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION |
Again, this MOOC is freely available to everyone in the world; there is no cost to register. The University of Iowa will offer an optional MOOC Certificate of Completion for a fee of $50.00 USD. You are not required to pay this fee in order to register for and participate in this MOOC. Those who wish to earn the MOOC Certificate of Completion must complete a set percentage of the MOOC coursework. You can read the details of the completion requirements and sign up for the certificate when the MOOC begins on July 18.
| TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS |
You will need a computer or mobile device with a stable internet connection that will support your participation. If you would like to take this course but do not have reliable internet access, please contact us at distancelearning.iwp@gmail.com. We will try to facilitate a local MOOC access group where you live.
| QUESTIONS? |
Email the IWP MOOC Team at distancelearning.iwp@gmail.com with any inquiries.
As toilsome I wander’d Virginia’s woods,
To the music of rustling leaves kick’d by my feet, (for ’twas autumn,)
I mark’d at the foot of a tree the grave of a soldier;
Mortally wounded he and buried on the retreat, (easily all could understand,)
The halt of a mid-day hour, when up! no time to lose–yet this sign left,
On a tablet scrawl’d and nail’d on the tree by the grave,
Bold, cautious, true, and my loving comrade.
Long, long I muse, then on my way go wandering,
Many a changeful season to follow, and many a scene of life,
Yet at times through changeful season and scene, abrupt, alone, or in the crowded street,
Comes before me the unknown soldier’s grave, comes the inscription rude in Virginia’s
woods,
Bold, cautious, true, and my loving comrade.
Have you participated in something like this, Iowamark?
Yes, but I am no expert. Massive Online Open Courses are a nice thing, but don’t expect individual attention.
Will Monica Lewinsky present her journal memoir, "Leaves of Grass Devastated My Life".
Heh.
Okay, thanks.
Why wasn’t he actually in the war? Instead of nursing little soldier boys in Washington, DC...
Could have gone nasty about leaves, tobacco leaf cigar wraps...wouldn’t be prudent....
No, it wouldn’t. Ugh.
His innate desire was to have sex with them.
There, I said it.
Thomas Berger’s novel “Little Big Man” has an hilarious reference to his love of drummer boys’ rosy shoulders!
[snip] By the cot in the hospital reaching lemonade to a feverish patient,
Nigh the coffin’d corpse when all is still, examining with a candle;
Voyaging to every port to dicker and adventure,
Hurrying with the modern crowd as eager and fickle as any,
Hot toward one I hate, ready in my madness to knife him,
Solitary at midnight in my back yard, my thoughts gone from me a long while,
Walking the old hills of Judaea with the beautiful gentle God by my side,
Speeding through space, speeding through heaven and the stars,
Speeding amid the seven satellites and the broad ring, and the
diameter of eighty thousand miles,
Speeding with tail’d meteors, throwing fire-balls like the rest,
Carrying the crescent child that carries its own full mother in its belly,
Storming, enjoying, planning, loving, cautioning,
Backing and filling, appearing and disappearing,
I tread day and night such roads.
I visit the orchards of spheres and look at the product,
And look at quintillions ripen’d and look at quintillions green.
I fly those flights of a fluid and swallowing soul,
My course runs below the soundings of plummets.
I help myself to material and immaterial,
No guard can shut me off, no law prevent me.
I anchor my ship for a little while only,
My messengers continually cruise away or bring their returns to me. [/snip]
[Walt Whitman: Song of Myself, Part 33]
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