Continuous Learning through MOOCs

I spent much of the day today working on an online class I've been taking. It started in February and I'm supposed to finish by this Wednesday, but I'm a little behind.

It's a MOOC - a massive, open, online course - offered through MIT on Competency-based education.  At first, I thought I would just audit the course - and then I thought about having a certificate that certified that I had completed it...and hence, the pressure to get done.

I've taken a few online courses, but this one has been unique in a couple of ways.  First, there are videos that provide much of the content knowledge, both from the professor and from schools who are actual practitioners of CBE.  The opportunity to hear the voices of many stakeholders discussing the pros and cons as well as the implementation challenges has been incredible. As well, the videos are captioned, so I find myself re-reading the presentation, very helpful.  Second, there was an intro stage for the course, in which we had to think through our plan for completing the course - down to what was my working style and what days did I intend to actually do the work.  This was super advance planning and caused me to reflect carefully before I began on how and when I would complete the work.  Yes, I am behind, but I am aware that I broke my plan; that's better right?  Finally, the course is chock full of resources that I'm going to want to return to in the future - and I will.  The resources will stay available for quite a while - a total bonus.

One last artifact to create before I can get my certificate.  I can do this...