Took the final today, and really had to sweat it out on a couple of the problems to solve. Gawwd, I hate the charts to fill out per drag and drop..... Renembering dates is not my storng point. But concepts and completing floor plans.. a breeze.
So to sum up my experience with the EdX program. The concept is fantastic, the interactivity is first rate.
i dumped my two courses at the university of Texas. The first one was only doing it by rote and was so terrified of the camera, he was distracting... looked like a deer in the headlights and the content was so superfluous, wasn't learning much I didn't know.
The second had me stymied for weeks. I thought it was my fault, till he got to the eras I know about. First he pissed me off by trashing Freud, then Wittgenstein, and represented theories in such a vague way, I thought... this stuff is just masturbating your brain, going in circles and never coming to a conclusion about things soague, they are insignificant.
But when he got to the Soixties, I knew he was a charlatan, and a racist to boot. He dissed Kennedy, praised McCarthy, and sorta praised Johnson, and then came to the only thing he thought was interesting about the era, and that was the race riots in 1968... and said of Johnson, 'He'd given them (the african Americans) everything they wanted, and they rioted. And went sanctimonious theatrical, and with hands up, said, 'Why? Why? Nobody knows.'
And which point I finally exploded and yelled at the screen and shouted, you sanctimonious ASSHOLE!'
Point one.. he's near my age and grew up in Philly, so should know better. Point two, I had a course in Salzburg just on the year 1969 alone with a socioligist who is world renowned, it was so important, because it nearly came to a world-wide revolution, and there was mcuh more happening, so I was incensed that he would be teaching young people such revisionist and racist drivel.
So I got hold of myself, and said... 'Ren, think. You don't want a flame war.' So I dropped them both. The people of Texas are not being served well, if those two are typical of what is being taught.
The course at M.I.T. was balsam. It was fresh, it came from an unexpected viewpoint and gave a historical view of the world around us and how moments and buildings in history have left legacies in society that have echoed down through the centuries to the present time.
It was demanding, but fascinating, and that professor was so passionate, and was able to pass on his love of the subject and knowledge in such a way that the way you see the world slants in perspective and seems new. And THAT is the difference between education and 'edumacation', as Atrios an economist calls it.
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So... with EdX, it's a case of picking and choosing The M.I.T. courses are demanding, but if you have a solid background, very valuable. Forget Texas at Austin.
At any rate, I passed the final and fucked up one problem because the icons were too small. You had to drag and drop the tiny pictures on a world map, but even with my reading glasses, three of them were so vague, I couldn't recognise them even using a magnifying glass. That was the pits... so I sort of guessed and got it wrong.
There was a final video from the professor this week. Thanking for everyone's participation. Twenty four thousand people enrolled in the course and followed it. Four thousand will get a certificate, as he set the bar high at 80 percent correctness. I ended up with a 93 percent overall, and 95 per cent on the exams.
This made me very happy and satisfied. But more importatntly, I learned a lot and feel enriched by the experience. He's going part 2 next year on-line, and can't wait to sign up.
So to reiterate.... one has to choose. But hey, it's all free. But one should try to stay away from the ones who waste your time. Really terrific professors are rare as hen's teeth. Professor Mark is a gem.
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