I have registered for my first Coursera course: the one on Gamification.

I’m keen to see what it’s like. Besides, I think all teachers should become students* from time to time.

First Impressions

The syllabus page is clean but fairly mundane. It includes a list of the video-lectures we should watch (again, fairly mundane), some additional readings, and a unit quiz. Being the keener I am, I immediately went to the quiz without even reading or watching anything. When I click on the quizzes, assignments, and exams – I only get access to the current one.

The videos, so far are also pretty mundane – a talking head embedded into a slideshow that includes some additional video. I’m actually writing this while I am listening to (and occasionally looking at) the videos. Not bad, just not special, and certainly not new.

I tend to be kind of impatient when it comes to learning – I prefer to move at my own pace; I am easily frustrated when things move too slowly in a course (which is most of the time). When I discover I have missed something – I want to be able to go back and target just that part that I need. In return, I expect that the assessment/testing will actually be a good representative sampling of what I need to know.

The first week quiz consisted of 5 (yup, FIVE) questions. That is not a representative sampling.

Oh – and the class is NOT gamified. Hmmmmmmm.
“you can’t teach what you don’t practice” ~Bjarne Stroustrup

learner vs student

* I keep waffling on the terms ‘learner’ vs ‘student’. Right now I am thinking ‘learner’ is too vague. I’m ALWAYS a learner, aren’t I? I know that lots of educationists dislike the term ‘student’ – though I’m not completely sure why – something about inclusiveness and respect, I think. I don’t think the choice of label is going to make a bully professor who specializes in pseudoteaching become a better teacher, but that could be just me.

My predictions:

The course: nothing remarkable; nothing new; very little, if anything I couldn’t have learned by watching a well-produced one hour documentary.

People’s reactions to the course: people will rave about how amazing and progressive and ’21-century’ it is. This is the “Emperor’s New Clothes Syndrome” – something that seems to be becoming more and more common as people understand less and less of the new technology.

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