Two very important topics here, and I am grateful for the information the email provides:
Time commitment. I already know that I will not be spending 5-7 hours per week on the class. As I explained in my first post, I really cannot afford to spend more than about 3 hours per week. I hope some information will be forthcoming about what people should do if they know in advance that their time commitment is limited: Are we still welcome to participate in the class? And are there suggestions about how we should devote the limited time we have available? In a regular class, a teacher can set expectations for time commitment from their students (in fact, that is essential - especially in an online class; here's my message about time commitment for my students), but in an open class like this one, time commitment is obviously something that is driven by student choice than by requirements in a traditional sense. The more guidance we can get from the instructor, the better! I hope for guidance about how best to spend my limited time as the class gets started.
Recommended books. The email lists information about print editions, but I was really relieved that there are also ebook versions available... both for convenience and at a cheaper price! The Kindle edition of Lindberg's book is only $9.99, and the Osler book is much cheaper in Kindle also (just $13.99), so that's good news - the prices in the email were discouraging, but I can cope with Kindle prices. And I am so glad all three books are available as ebooks. My guess is that for students in an e-course like this, the ebook options are probably highly desirable, especially now that the Amazon Kindle Cloud reader makes it possible to read Kindle books in any browser, plus all the various devices which have Kindle apps. In the MOOCs I've taken before, with an international audience, ebooks were much preferred, esp. because of shipping issues.
Just speaking for myself, I do not learn well from videos; I learn much better from reading texts. So... I am going to buy these books! I'll call it a late Christmas present to myself. I'm really glad that all three books are available in Kindle since that is definitely what I prefer (BIG FONTS make me happy, hopelessly nearsighted person that I am).
I also feel obliged to comment that these books really challenge the "walled garden" approach of the Janux platform. It would be one thing if ALL the learning materials really were "in there" (in the form of videos, PDFs, etc.). But if we ARE going outside the platform to do our learning (reading books, looking at websites), then why all the emphasis on Janux being closed off, with all the discussions taking place inside the platform? I for one plan to be blogging about the course, especially since I will be reading these books which are on a platform - Amazon Kindle - that is outside the Janux platform. Anyway, we'll see how all that goes. I cannot imagine taking a course without blogging about it, and I cannot think of a single reason why I would want to make that blog private. But is there an aggregator in Janux to pull in discussions from outside, gathering blog posts and other social media mentions? I didn't see anything at all like that when I checked out a couple of courses last fall; maybe they have added that to the current version of the software.
Meanwhile, I'm hopeful that by reading the books, I'll make enough progress just with my 3 hours per week of time that I'll be able to participate in the class! Most of all, I really appreciated this informative email; poor communication was a very serious problem in the MOOCs I have done elsewhere, but this was a very good way to get us ready for tomorrow.
Still no hashtag for the course for those of us who want to use blogs and other social networking tools to share about the class, so when I go crosspost this over at G+ and Twitter, I guess I'll say #janux and #januxhsci and #ouhistoryofscience. Maybe a specifically recommended hashtag will be forthcoming... Kerry, are you reading this? We need a hashtag! :-)
Still no hashtag for the course for those of us who want to use blogs and other social networking tools to share about the class, so when I go crosspost this over at G+ and Twitter, I guess I'll say #janux and #januxhsci and #ouhistoryofscience. Maybe a specifically recommended hashtag will be forthcoming... Kerry, are you reading this? We need a hashtag! :-)
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