When I found out that we would have to register/follow a MOOC for 6 weeks, I was flabbergasted as to how I will be able to fit it all into my already super busy schedule. I have heard a lot of MOOC in the news and from my husband who is currently taking his 3rd MOOC course. I was blown away when I watched Daphne Koller’s TED talk a few months ago on how online education is changing the paradigm for access to higher education. After I got over the fact that I have to do this assignment and just have to make time for it, I began browsing the Coursera website for a class that I could take.
I’ve been thinking for awhile about taking a computer programming class. But the reality is, I don’t think I can commit to the time to really learn it this semester with teaching and finishing up my masters thesis project. Then stumbled on The Science of Gastronomy, which sounds amazing. I love to cook and it would be neat to learn more about food science – but it’s not offered now. Hence, I decided on taking Nutrition for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. Personally, I’ve been struggling to the excess 30 lbs I’ve gained since I’ve had 2 children 7 years ago. I’ve tried dieting and exercising, but I’ve learned that I need to learn to eat healthier! So I’m hoping that this class with help me learn about proper nutrition while encouraging me to lead a path towards a healthier lifestyle. The other reason for taking this class is I hope I can glean information that I would be able to share with my students in Anatomy and Physiology. We spend a lot of time discussion different body systems, particularly the cardiovascular system and digestive system. And studies have shown that nutrition is heavily linked to the wellness and smooth operations of these body systems.
Today being the first day of the course, I started watching the video lectures (10 per week!). Luckily, I had a chunk of time today, so I plowed through the first 5. My initial reactions are:
- Course is well organized and structured.
- The video lectures are really well made – Prof speaks clearly, slides are informative but not too information heavy.
It looks like hundreds of people from all over the world have registered for the course from the Introduction posts on the discussion forum. It doesn’t seem as if I will interact with many or get to know any at all if I don’t participate in the discussion forum.
So far, most of the info presented from the lectures are review for me as I have taken 2 course in biochemistry in college, and I have taught Biology, Chemistry, and Anatomy/Physiology. The assignments for the week is to take a quiz (based on the lectures), keep track of my caloric intake and physical activities for one day using Super Tracker (by USDA), and analyze my report looking at specific data. This seems doable for this week. I imagine that it’ll get much harder as time progress. I hope I am able to keep up!
Teaching and Technology 
Hi Nan,
I whole heartedly share all your feelings and concern about the MOOC activity for this class. I also picked one that I like (Converting face to face class to an online course). I have taken a class to teach me this, but wanted another point of view. I agree with you that the course is well plan and I am impressed by the experience and qualifications of these instructors. I will try to squeeze in the time like you to be as involve as possible to get the MOOC experience. I am predicting that it will be very much like our own UH online course, but just with more students. A lot more students. I am curious how my instructor will manage grading and and responding to students. I think the emphasis of this activity is for us to gain a better understanding of what it will take to maybe teach a MOOC. I like the technique my MOOC instructor is using to handle to massive quantity of questions. She stated that she will only choose the top 10 most frequent questions to respond to the class and that these responses will be posted on the class web site. What a great way to manage to the questions.