Keeping the “human” in humanities MOOCs

Michigan State University’s new MOOC will teach students to think critically about learning how to write.

How do you connect 100,000 students all around the world with subject matter usually taught to a couple hundred students in a lecture hall?

It’s a challenge many instructors face when creating a massive open online course (MOOC), even for concrete subjects like math and science. But the challenge may be most prominent when teaching that more elusive and abstract academic discipline called the humanities.

Michigan State University, which has three other MOOCs under its belt, will launch its first humanities course on June 30. The free, non-credit course will be taught by MSU professors Julie Lindquist and Jeff Grabill and will teach participants how to improve their writing skills.…Read More