Continuing my series on the top 10 reasons to enroll in Anthropology 207x (Introduction to Human Evolution), which officially begins on May 6th….
Previous entries:
#10 Origin stories are captivating. Scientific origin stories can be unifying.
Reason #9 – It is open and free.
This one is almost too easy. Anthropology 207x is free. It costs you nothing to enroll, browse, explore, and learn. There is an option to pay a small fee for a “verified certificate” from the course, but all of the content, all of the material, all of the exercises are fully open and free.
The fact that this course is free and open is important to me for reasons that go well beyond increasing enrollment. Evolution remains poorly understood and stubbornly controversial within the United States and many other parts of the world. As such, resources for learning and teaching about evolution can, at times, be difficult to access. For more details on this, you can check out last week’s Science Friday podcast, which featured a segment with Dr. Amanda Glaze (@evophd) on the challenges and opportunities of being a science instructor in the U.S. South (you can also check out their web discussion here). I would like 207x to be one small effort to change that.
It was hugely gratifying to see so many positive responses from learners who took the course in its first run who are also teachers. I would like to see that success again:
It has been 20 years since I took evolution and I feel that I have a better grasp than ever on the origins of humans and their relationship to other primates. This is my second MOOC course and I have thoroughly enjoyed learning in the format just for the sake of learning. It will make me a better teacher if I continue to work on the areas I am weak and that is my ultimate goal. THANK YOU!
I want to thank Edx, Wellesley and especially APV for making such an interesting MOOC. I felt I was at university. I had to solve some problems as I kept on with the course due to my ignorance, but I’ve learnt so much. Yes, so much that I find myself at parties or “ASADOS” (I live in Argentina), talking about Evolution and genetics and so many other things. It is a topic that relates to every aspect of our lives. As a teacher, I must tell you that you’ve inspired me. I’ve enrolled in other evolution courses, and I hope you will organize a second round.
I’m a high school Biology teacher and I really enjoyed every lecture. I learned so much and can’t wait to share some of my new knowledge with my students. I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to offer all of the content for FREE- wow edx and Professor Van Arsdale- great MOOC!!
I will have additional updates each day between now and May 6, when the course goes live.
