I’ve taken the plunge. I have entered the world of MOOCs. No, this is not a new type of video game (I’m not a gamer). “MOOC” stands for Massive Open Online Course. There are several providers offering MOOCs. A friend of mine pointed me towards Coursera. I am much more of a humanities guy than a science guy (though I do find the sciences rather fascinating at times) so I was excited to learn that Coursera does offer some classes in the humanities. My first attempt was with the Introduction to Philosophy course, yet some unexpected obligations came up in my life at the time which prevented me from following through with that. If they offer it again, I will enroll. At present I am currently enrolled in several writing courses – Crafting an Effective Writer: Tools of the Trade (begins on May 13th), First-Year Composition 2.0 (begins on May 27th) and Writing II: Rhetorical Composing (started on April 22nd). In addition, I have also enrolled in Søren Kierkegaard – Subjectivity, Irony and the Crisis of Modernity (doesn’t begin until October 7th). Did I mention this is all for free?
It looks like the next several months or so will be writing, writing and more writing for me. I told myself at the beginning of the year that I wanted to focus more on my writing, to try to write at least a little bit each day, to hone my craft, to sharpen my skills, to continue to improve my ability to communicate through the written (typed) word. Taking these courses will, no doubt, go a long way towards fulfilling that goal. I needed the push, now I’ve got it.
Graphomania 