[yvonne]

TheMerc just happened to be runnuing this story http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_...ng-college

You guys should consider taking a course through Coursera. It won't cost you anything, and they're actually quite interesting. The company is trying some innovative ideas to teach thousands of people at the same time while overcoming some the traditional shortcomings of online education.

[yvonne]

TheMerc just happened to be runnuing this story http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_...ng-college

You guys should consider taking a course through Coursera. It won't cost you anything, and they're actually quite interesting. The company is trying some innovative ideas to teach thousands of people at the same time while overcoming some the traditional shortcomings of online education.

[yvonne]

The article states that most of the classes are automatically graded; however Coursera is experimenting with a way to grade essays.

- Students complete the essay and turn it in.
- As soon as students turn in the essay, they are given an anonymous copy of another student's essay to evaluate based on specified criteria
- Students do not receive full credit unless they have completed a specified number of peer evaluations. (The software keeps track of the how many evaluations a student has completed, but the evaluator's identity is not revealed to the students whose papers they have evaluated.)

Of course, there's a possibility that students will grade lightly, but I think that the double blind anonymity eliminates some of that.

[yvonne]

The article states that most of the classes are automatically graded; however Coursera is experimenting with a way to grade essays.

- Students complete the essay and turn it in.
- As soon as students turn in the essay, they are given an anonymous copy of another student's essay to evaluate based on specified criteria
- Students do not receive full credit unless they have completed a specified number of peer evaluations. (The software keeps track of the how many evaluations a student has completed, but the evaluator's identity is not revealed to the students whose papers they have evaluated.)

Of course, there's a possibility that students will grade lightly, but I think that the double blind anonymity eliminates some of that.

[Extra Point]

Anyone with kids that they want to inspire, or those who want detailed instruction on a general subject, or those having difficulty understanding a prof at a State University, should check out the Kahn Academy:

https://www.khanacademy.org/

Thousands of excellent classes on a wide variety of subjects at all levels, and it is all free.

[Extra Point]

Anyone with kids that they want to inspire, or those who want detailed instruction on a general subject, or those having difficulty understanding a prof at a State University, should check out the Kahn Academy:

https://www.khanacademy.org/

Thousands of excellent classes on a wide variety of subjects at all levels, and it is all free.