The Plusses and
Pitfalls of Teaching Online
BY: DAN ARIELY, PBS
News Hour
Dan Ariely is not
just a great and funny teacher, but he's dedicated his life to making the world
a somewhat better place. To that end, he's produced an online course on
behavioral economics that already has attracted 140,000 students.
Dan Ariely: I
am an experimentalist both in my profession, and in my nature. So, when Peter
Lange, the provost at Duke University, asked me if I wanted to teach a massive
open online course (MOOC), I naturally said yes (not to mention that he is my
boss).
Among other things, this was an interesting lesson in the
extent to which I can underestimate the amount of time and resources that it takes
to produce such a class -- but all that is behind me now and the class is just
getting on its way.
Here is my
invitation video for the class:
The class is just starting but I am already learning a lot
from it. I have learned that some students feel that it is their basic human
right to get free education (they call it free but of course free in this case
is a shorthand for "someone else should pay for it,") while the majority
feels privileged to live in a time when such adventures are possible. I am also
learning how generous and helpful the students can be toward each other in the
discussion boards. And above all, I feel more connected to about 140,000 more
people on this planet, across 138 countries. It is truly a privilege.
And if you want to join this adventure, all you need to do
is to check
out my class on Coursera.
The proprietor of this page, Paul Solman, posed a few
specific questions. The first: How does the quality of online discourse compare
to in-class discussion at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Duke, where
I've taught?
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