Tag Archives: online education

And then we came to the end, a few post #MOOC musings

Posted on January 15, 2014 by Adam Van Arsdale

This past semester was…hectic. I could add many other adjectives with differing connotations to that sentence, but needless to say, teaching Wellesley’s first MOOC course, coupled with ordinary professional obligations, coupled with a lot of life, coupled with a few … Continue reading →

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207x snapshot #2 : Education level

Posted on October 10, 2013 by Adam Van Arsdale

Another quick snapshot of the student body in 207x. Again, these data are not quite complete, as they are missing ~2000 “late” enrollees. Nevertheless it is an interesting portrait. This is a chart showing the highest level of education achieved … Continue reading →

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Set to go live, Wellesley 207x and questions of scale…

Posted on September 23, 2013 by Adam Van Arsdale

In two days, Wellesley 207x – Introduction to Human Evolution, will go live. The course is the culmination of a fairly frenzied amount of work over the past three months, and I am excited to see that work actually reach … Continue reading →

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Anth 207x – Step 1, integrating the liberal arts classroom and the MOOC environment

Posted on September 2, 2013 by Adam Van Arsdale

Tuesday is the first day of Wellesley classes for the Fall 2013 semester. As such, it also marks the first day in Wellesley’s experiment with online education. That experiment is beginning with my course, Anth 207x (Introduction to Human Evolution). … Continue reading →

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Planning ahead: Wellesley, online education, and 207x

Posted on August 30, 2013 by Adam Van Arsdale

With 207x (Introduction to Human Evolution) about a month away preparations have entered a frenzy mode. As it turns out, right after the class goes live, I will be speaking at Wellesley “Family and Friends” weekend about the intersection between … Continue reading →

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Anthropology 207x – Making it easier to ask better questions

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Adam Van Arsdale

In my post yesterday, I pointed out that one of my goals in Anthropology 207x is to disseminate a lot of information about human evolution. In addition to disseminating this information, my plan is to also provide an introduction to … Continue reading →

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Anthropology 207x – My goals

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Adam Van Arsdale

One of the first things I want to convey about Anthropology 207x (Introduction to Human Evolution) are my goals in putting together the course. Dissemination My largest goal for this course is make available valuable teaching content related to human … Continue reading →

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Announcing Anthropology 207x

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Adam Van Arsdale

Last Fall, Wellesley announced its plan to partner with EdX and produce its first online, MOOC courses. Even prior to that decision, I was curious about the development of MOOCs and online teaching: Between two professors: Pros and Cons of … Continue reading →

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Differing ends of the class size spectrum

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Adam Van Arsdale

I am currently in a bit of an interesting situation regarding my own teaching. For the first time since arriving at Wellesley I am teaching a senior-level seminar (with a focus on personal genomics). By Wellesley standards, the 19 students … Continue reading →

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Online courses everywhere

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Adam Van Arsdale

On the same day my current employer announces its partnership with edX, my undergraduate alma mater, Emory University, announces its participation in a consortium of schools putting together a “semester online” via the 2U platform.

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