Take a free open university course this summer (read all 2 entries…)
so. 6 months ago

For a number of reasons, I decided not to take any library school classes this summer.
1. Work is quite busy, due to Summer Reading being a huge initiative in New York City, and due to me being what they call a YA (young adult) Librarian. Meaning not that i myself am young, (although if you want to think of me as young, please feel free, be my guest), but rather that I technically work with young adults.

2. School in summer is collapsed into six weeks of twice a week per class, with the best classes being for some mysterious reason in the middle of the day, making it difficult for those of us who commute two hours one way.

3. I would just like a break from things that are Due. Know what I mean? On one hand, I am the type that typically only gets things done when they are Due (witness my Happiness pathfinder, witness my passport application, witness all my assignments in high school, college, and beyond)... BUT. I think it would be good for me to work differently, even if just for a summer.

SO…... my next entry on this topic will lay out some of the courses I am tempted to sample… Hoping that I may gain some compadres in my summer un-studies!



Comments:

calypte is hanging about for news. Fingers crossed it's good.

if you don't take them now

is there another opportunity, and when?

the following semester

this is a go-at-your-speed program…

the only thing affecting how many classes you take and when is how fast do you want to graduate…

calypte is hanging about for news. Fingers crossed it's good.

then I vote for the break

you can go back to it more refreshed and keen :)

which universities

are you thinking about? something like MIT’s Open CourseWare or something more structured? because I’m definitely planning to do something like this.

hi asterisk

sorry so long to reply!!!!!!!!

it was definitely MIT’s open courseware i had in mind….

howabout you?

yep

I’m partway through an OCW course, and there are a few kinks: the problems they assign don’t correspond to the textbook edition they claim to be using, and it’s been challenging to try and correlate tests/HW due dates with lectures/reading. This particular course was definitely not designed for or adapted to OCW – it’s just like downloading the materials from any university’s course website. It’s perfectly serviceable; it’s just not some Big! Instructional! Breakthrough!

heh heh heh!

are you taking it via MIT?

i'm just

going through the course materials – is there a way to formally “take” an OCW course?

Open Courseware

With all the open courseware out there, I wonder if we’ll soon see an online network of moonlighting profs willing to create and grade exams, and assign and grade papers based on the courses of others.

Maybe this would be a good niche for all those part-timers and adjuncts.

(This comment was deleted.)

purplefibermom is incognito

Another idea

there are a lot of great courses by Modern Scholar (and another company whose name escapes me) on CD or DVD. Our library has quite a good selection of them – I enjoy listening on my way to work. I’ve gone through a history of Western Civ, Bible as literature and now I’m listening to a History of Human Thought. There are all sorts of topics – from Physics to literature to history to music and so on.

for some reason

i didn’t see this till today (puzzled, i am)

atanyrate, whata great suggestion!

i will check it out…


bookish has gotten 10 cheers on this entry.

 

I want to: