Well that latest blip on my site’s radar indicates that Chronicle of Higher Education story about this Degree of Freedom project hit the ether.
So for anyone stopping by for the first time, here is the skinny on what I’m doing.
As the Chronicle story mentioned, my goal is to complete 32 free online classes by the end of 2013, classes selected to replicate the same type of distribution and major requirements one would have if enrolled in a traditional brick-and-mortar liberal arts program.
The degree I’m working towards is in philosophy and you can take a look at the classes I’ve been taking during my freshman year (which ran from January through March) and my sophomore year (running from April through June) to see which courses I’m taking and where they are coming from.
But the real purpose of this project is the blog you are reading. For once a day (at least during the work week), I’m publishing an article length piece on some aspect of the online learning experience. For example, during the first month of the blog I wrote week-long series on MOOC providers, class components (lectures, reading, etc.) and assessment (among other topics) – all informed by (1) this year’s experience exposing myself to all the aspects of free learning; and (2) my professional experience in the fields of education and professional assessment.
As I mentioned to the Boston Globe journalist who wrote this piece on the project, Degree of Freedom is the equivalent of a 300-piece Spotlight series that I hope will provide valuable insights to those considering creating, taking or making policy decisions regarding MOOCs and other forms of free learning.
This conversation was never meant to be one way, which is why I just began an interview series that will shortly appear as an iTunes podcast featuring discussions with leaders in the MOOC movement, as well as other people doing interesting things in free learning. The first two interviews (with edX President Anant Agarwal and Coursera Co-Founder Andrew Ng) are already available here at the Degree of Freedom site.
Finally, so you’ll get a sense of what the courses I’ve been taking are like, a newsletter that usually goes out every Monday is built around a review of a course that has just finished up. I’m planning to set up an archive of past articles to view, but for now you can catch some past reviews here. And you can subscribe for upcoming issues by punching your e-mail address into the space to the right. (Just an FYI, because no classes have finished up recently, I won’t be publishing the newsletter this week, but will be doing a double review of two literature classes in next week’s issue).
That’s about it. Feel free to search around, drop me a note or add comments to let me know what I’m doing right or wrong.
And if you are interested in what you read, let people know what’s going on here since these resources are meant to contribute to a wider conversation likely to have a major impact on what it means to be a learner in the fascinating age we’re living through.
This is an interesting exercise and I plan to read through your blog.
Looking at your course list, however, it appears that some are not MOOC courses, but are purchased (i.e., the “Great Courses” selections). Were these initially for-profit courses, or were they initially “open” in the sense of “free”?
Thanks for this project.
Hi Debra – You’re right that while I tend to use the acronym MOOC a lot (and most of the courses I’m taking are from the major MOOC providers), my Degree of Freedom lineup does include courses from other sources, including iTunes U and recorded lecures from companies like Great Courses. I talk about the reasoning behind my course choices at http://degreeoffreedom.org/mooc-vs-itunes-auditing-vs-taking-classes/ and while I’m limiting the number of lecture-only classes in my lineup, I do consider them a legitimate source of college-level learning on par (and, in some cases exceeding) what you’d get from a MOOC on the same subject.
So if you consider this a project in “free learning” writ large, the reason I’ve included Great Courses under the free category is that most of them (certainly the ones I’ve taken) are available at no cost from the public library.