A Discussion Group to Experience and Evaluate Digital Courses, Spring 2013
co-sponsored by the Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL) and the
Information Technology in Education Committee (ITEC) and
Information Technology Services at Trinity College (CT)
We invited members of the Trinity community to participate in this discussion group on digital courses and their implications for residential liberal arts colleges such as Trinity. Our definition of digital courses includes non-credit MOOCs (massive open online courses) as well as credit-bearing distance-learning (all online) and blended learning (a mix of in-person and online). While we do not necessarily endorse any of these models for Trinity, our interest in learning more was sparked by recent announcements from Wesleyan University to offer Coursera MOOCs (beginning spring 2013), Wellesley College to offer edX MOOCs (fall 2013), and ten universities that have formed the Semester Online virtual consortium (fall 2013).
To enrich this discussion group, all faculty, staff, and student participants have agreed to experience learning in a digital course from the student’s perspective by auditing/enrolling and completing some online lessons, then report back to the group with their evaluations. Note: If this is a free online course, such as a MOOC, you must be enrolled as a student to apply to join the Trinity discussion group. If this is a closed course, you must have contacted the instructor and received permission to audit online or receive student-level access to some online lessons. Participants agree to participate in at least two discussions:
- Thursday, April 4th, 2013 during Common Hour
- Tuesday, May 14th, 2013, 9am to 12 noon (with lunch) at Spring Institute for Teaching & Technology (SITT), in Trinity Library, 1823 Room (level 2)
See also resources and suggested readings on digital courses and liberal arts education