<div>Imagine learning from the best in the world, with the best in the world, all from the comfort of your home and for free! Massive Open Online Courses or MOOC s enable you to do just this.<br /><br />I first stumbled upon MOOCs 4 years ago. I didn’t know what exactly to expect on this educational journey. I hopped in since it was a free ride. The 3-month “Fantasy and Science Fiction Writing” course seemed like a lot of fun. Listen to the erudite professor discussing such all time favourites as Alice in Wonderland and Edgar Alan Poe’s works, churn out a 300-word essay on the book of the week, correct fellow classmates’ essays and viola, I would get my certificate.<br /><br />Ah, how mistaken I was. Since the weekly essay had to “provide original insight into some aspect of the writer’s work,” I really had to rack my brains. Every topic I thought of seemed so unoriginal. When I finally finished my first essay, it had drained me even more than some of my final exams! I waited with baited breath for the peer review of my own essay and felt relieved at one review and dejected by the other. <br /><br />My course work kept me awake late into the night. I couldn’t wait for the family to get out and for me to log in. This pattern was to repeat week after week. While the lectures were good, interactions with course mates were better. The discussion forums teemed with people of all hues. Many were articulate, intelligent and helpful and a few were downright rude.<br /><br />Into the eighth course now, my vocabulary of MOOC related acronyms has improved. Sometimes, I become the OP (Original Poster) expressing something IMHO (In My Humble Opinion) and wait for comments from other MOOCoholics or MOOC geeks. I have had the pleasure of learning history from an Israeli professor and the thrill of exchanging information about communication science with a Dutch scholar. And, when I met a friend from Bengaluru in a discussion forum, the thrill was immense! <br /><br />A few of us who completed the “Start writing fiction” course have kept in touch even a year after the course ended. This motley group of men and women reminds me of the pen pals of a bygone era. Personally, the regular mails from the group about everything under the sun (including how sunny Bengaluru and many other parts of the world are) are a great source of joy and learning.<br /><br />There is something for everyone in these online courses: from beetles to The Beatles, computers to composting, to advancing life spans and even a course on ‘soul beliefs’! What are you waiting for? Enrol in an MOOC today.<br /><br /></div>
<div>Imagine learning from the best in the world, with the best in the world, all from the comfort of your home and for free! Massive Open Online Courses or MOOC s enable you to do just this.<br /><br />I first stumbled upon MOOCs 4 years ago. I didn’t know what exactly to expect on this educational journey. I hopped in since it was a free ride. The 3-month “Fantasy and Science Fiction Writing” course seemed like a lot of fun. Listen to the erudite professor discussing such all time favourites as Alice in Wonderland and Edgar Alan Poe’s works, churn out a 300-word essay on the book of the week, correct fellow classmates’ essays and viola, I would get my certificate.<br /><br />Ah, how mistaken I was. Since the weekly essay had to “provide original insight into some aspect of the writer’s work,” I really had to rack my brains. Every topic I thought of seemed so unoriginal. When I finally finished my first essay, it had drained me even more than some of my final exams! I waited with baited breath for the peer review of my own essay and felt relieved at one review and dejected by the other. <br /><br />My course work kept me awake late into the night. I couldn’t wait for the family to get out and for me to log in. This pattern was to repeat week after week. While the lectures were good, interactions with course mates were better. The discussion forums teemed with people of all hues. Many were articulate, intelligent and helpful and a few were downright rude.<br /><br />Into the eighth course now, my vocabulary of MOOC related acronyms has improved. Sometimes, I become the OP (Original Poster) expressing something IMHO (In My Humble Opinion) and wait for comments from other MOOCoholics or MOOC geeks. I have had the pleasure of learning history from an Israeli professor and the thrill of exchanging information about communication science with a Dutch scholar. And, when I met a friend from Bengaluru in a discussion forum, the thrill was immense! <br /><br />A few of us who completed the “Start writing fiction” course have kept in touch even a year after the course ended. This motley group of men and women reminds me of the pen pals of a bygone era. Personally, the regular mails from the group about everything under the sun (including how sunny Bengaluru and many other parts of the world are) are a great source of joy and learning.<br /><br />There is something for everyone in these online courses: from beetles to The Beatles, computers to composting, to advancing life spans and even a course on ‘soul beliefs’! What are you waiting for? Enrol in an MOOC today.<br /><br /></div>
