last september, vanderbilt announced a partnership with coursera, an online platform for open-access, non-credit classes, available at no cost to participants.  such courses have been dubbed “moocs,” or massive open online courses, and vanderbilt faculty will offer five such courses via coursera this spring.

what is it like to design and teach an online course for tens of thousands of students around the world? join us for a conversation with two faculty members teaching coursera courses this spring: computer science professor douglas schmidt, whose course on pattern-oriented software architectures launches february 4^th, and nutrition instructor jamie pope, whose nutrition course starts in april.  you’ll hear from our panelists about the tasks and mindsets involved in teaching a mooc, and participate in a discussion of how these kinds of courses might fit into the teaching and learning landscape here at vanderbilt.

facilitator: derek bruff,  cft director
date & time: thursday, february 21, 3:10-4:30pm
this workshop will be held at a location to be announced.

register for this event

conversations on teaching focus on emergent teaching and learning issues in an informal, discussion-based format.  these sessions provide members of the vanderbilt teaching community a chance to share their teaching experiences and learn from each other. conversations on teaching typically begin with opening remarks from panelists and then open up to larger group discussions.

spring 2013 conversations on teaching include:

• teaching to thousands: a conversation about massive open online courses (moocs)

• teaching large classes
• power in the classroom