Time to blend some of the data dweebiness you’ve been reading in the first two installments in this series with some of the philosophy dweebiness that can be blamed directly on my One Year BA. In this case, the fusion between these two worlds derived from having been reminded of the relevance of a particular […]
Tag Archives | philosophy
The Trolley Problem
While the sessions of the American Philosophical Society I described yesterday covered work I hadn’t directly studied during my One Year BA (albeit by philosophers I had taken courses on), the last session I attended dealt directly with something first discovered through a MOOC course: The Trolley Problem. For those unfamiliar with it, the Trolley […]
Final Exam
I’m typing this on my way back home from the 2013 Eastern Division conference of the American Philosophical Association, a conclave where over a thousand philosophers (mostly professors and graduate students) gathered in Baltimore to ponder the universe, torture job-seekers and fret about funding for the field. Before the holidays, I argued that one method […]
The One Year BA! – The Defense
Before explaining why I think taking 32+ online courses in twelve months might be the equivalent of a four-year BA’s worth of learning, I’d first like to ask readers to take a blank sheet of paper and write down the names of every course you took while in college. Depending on your age and memory […]
Coming Next
The reason recent columns have been referring to fewer and fewer courses is that the end is in sight for my One Year BA. There are still a couple of units for Science and Cooking to finish (one on Baking, one on Fermentation) not to mention a several labs to complete, and ChinaX is one […]
The Pragmatic Maxim
Time again to take a look at MOOC and other forms of free learning from the perspective of another one of the subjects I’m studying: Pragmatic philosophy. I’ve been learning about Pragmatism through a second attempt at a self-study course, one which is going much more smoothly than the first, probably because excellent resources are […]
Interview with Peter Adamson, Creator of the History of Philosophy Podcast
Continuing discussions with successful educators working in areas that might influence the direction of massive open learning, today’s interview is with Peter Adamson, the man behind one of the world’s most ambitious educational podcasts: History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps. History of Philosophy (or HoP to we fans) is attempting to cover the entire philosophical […]
Interview with Peter Adamson, Creator of the History of Philosophy Podcast [ 24:15 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadWhy Philosophy?
Recent discussions of the virtues of “The Course” taught at the undergraduate level may help explain why such material forms the basis of most MOOC classes (as well as other modes of free learning). While these virtues are general, I’d like to end this month on a more parochial note by explaining the significance of […]
MOOCs and Utilitarianism
Given that I’m taking a wide range of courses meant to be useful not just for edification but for life, I like to occasionally look at the topic of free learning through the lens of one of the subjects I’m studying. A couple of weeks back, I went over some economics questions regarding MOOCs using […]
Challenges
Today, I wanted to discuss the major challenges I expect for this project. And tomorrow, I plan to wrap up the week by answering your questions and reviewing the ways you can follow along with the Degree of Freedom experiment. Regarding challenges trying to learn the equivalent of a liberal arts BA in twelve months […]
