Hi all!
Super quick one from me, you can find me at EGX London this month, where I’ll be giving a talk on ‘Harnessing the Power of Game Communities’! You can find me at the GI Academy Stage on Fri, Sep 23, 2022, from 2:30 PM - 3:15 PM.
Hope to see you there!
"A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.” —As You Like It
Due to the recent plague (read: COVID-19) outbreak, I’ve had some time to pursue additional learning and development opportunities, all of them based online. Today I wanted to provide some quick thoughts/opinions on HarvardX’s “Shakespeare’s Life and Work” online course, which was the first MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) I’ve ever tried out. I hope to try out more MOOCs in the future, but for the purpose of this post, know that I’m a complete newbie to the world of online learning!
I picked the course due to my BA background in English Literature—I thought having at least some basic familiarity with the topic would help me within the course, and better help me to be able to evaluate the pros and cons of HarvardX’s online teaching methods. HarvardX offers a pretty decent variety of online learning opportunities (both paid and free) using the edX platform and whilst I’m interested in potentially taking courses in topics such as Sikhism, mobile app development, U.S. public policy and more, I would be coming at those topics as a complete beginner, and would probably need to do a fair amount of additional research/reading to be able to understand all the course topics at a deeper level. To clarify, I’m certainly no Shakespeare expert, but I’ve written a few academic essays on his works before, and have been lucky enough to see some of his works performed live at The Globe.
So, is HarvardX’s Shakespeare course worth your time…and potentially your money?
BIOGRAPHICAL/HISTORICAL CONTEXT: The main topic of the course is looking at Shakespeare’s life and the historical context which surrounded it, and how this may have affected his work. Whilst HarvardX offers more specific courses that delve into particular topics or characters such as Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice: Shylock, this particular course gives a broad view of Shakespeare’s world, which I think makes for a great educational starting point. It also helps to steer conversation towards larger topics such as The Death of the Author, re-examining texts in a modern context, Shakespeare’s Classical inspirations and reimaginings, and more. If you’re someone who likes to deep-dive into a topic, perhaps you might be better suited to one of HarvardX’s other more singly-focused Shakespeare courses.
VIDEO CONTENT: The short (generally 3-5 minute long) videos featuring Professor Stephen Greenblatt are perfectly-sized chunks of information, which feature relevant historic landmarks such as The Globe theatre. They are easy to understand and provoked a bittersweet sense of wanderlust for me; every single one made me go “Oh, I wish I was there right now”, which may also come as a side effect of the current pandemic. I was entirely envious to see people walking around The Southbank on a grey and rainy day in the background of the shots, and couldn’t help but find everything slightly too real when Professor Greenblatt started to explain about how the Bubonic Plague nearly caused The Globe to go out of business as it was made to shut down until the plague death tolls fell under a certain number…eep.
PEER REVIEWS: All of your work (mostly 200-300 word responses to prompts) is assessed by other people also taking the course, which of course means you don’t know the credentials of those reviewing your work. They may not take the time/care that you’d like to assess your answers, or they might be rushing through the course, eager to earn a certificate, simply ticking all of the “Good” boxes instead of actually reading your responses. On the other hand, they may be careful and considerate readers, genuinely excited to read your work, hoping to add to their own knowledge of Shakespeare in the process. Depending on who looks at your answers, peer reviews can either be a blessing or a curse.
SELF REVIEW: Using the same rubric as the peer review, you’re asked to self-evaluate your own responses to given prompts. I suppose you could use this as an opportunity to cheat your way through the course, or to actually thoughtfully reflect on your own work. As Banquo once said, “What, can the devil speak true?”
VARYING COMPLEXITY: Some of the topics covered are very easy to understand—as I mentioned previously, the video components of the course are taught really well, with simple biographical concepts explained on-site at locations such as Southbank, and Shakespeare’s home in Stratford-Upon-Avon. These are easy to understand and write about, and the short comprehension tests which follow these videos are simple multiple choice ones. But then when it comes to the historical texts themselves, they can be quite difficult to grasp without a deeper understanding of the historical language used, and I often found myself having to do quite a bit of additional reading in order to really understand them. I’ve put this in the “Cons” section due to the inconsistency of the course’s difficulty levels, but I know a lot of people would also argue that additional reading/learning is very much an expected part of any course.
While the course is offered for free, you can also pay a fee to “verify” your attendance/work on the course, which means that you’ll receive a certificate of completion once you finish (and pass!) the course. Additionally, according to edX, “…you will have access to all course materials including graded assignments, which we use to assess your knowledge of the subject area and determine whether you’ve mastered the material to earn a certificate.” I decided to verify my course to get a feel for what it was like, and whether or not the fee (it was around $40 USD with a discount code) was worth it or not.
To be honest, if you’re planning on completing a lot of these courses just for fun, I’m not certain that verification is entirely necessary, but if—like me—you’re at a stage in your life where you’re concerned about padding out your CV with relevant skills/subjects, I don’t think it hurts to be able to show a certificate to prospective employers. If, however, you’re just looking to brush up on your knowledge of a certain subject, I’m not sure how much use it would be to you.
Overall, the fact this is a free course that anyone (who can speak/write in English) can take online is nothing but a very good thing. Whilst there are definitely some aspects of the course that you could cheat your way through, or times when you’re relying on the academic prowess of strangers, the fact that there’s an option for some kind of free structured learning about Shakespeare online is refreshing, especially during a time when many people are stuck at home, furloughed or unemployed.
It’s the kind of thing where you’ll get more out of it if you put more into it, and that’s really what education is all about, to me. Yes, you could probably cheat your way through the whole thing and gain a certificate at the end anyway, but then you would’ve just paid $40 for, well, nothing. I don’t think this course will be your golden ticket to employment, but if you want to learn more about The Bard and also want to be able to show employers that you have the ability to learn/research by yourself, the Verified certificate may be of some use to you.
In a time where everything is a little uncertain, I found it useful to have a structured program to follow, and made lots of notes for additional reading/study. I certainly learned things about Shakespeare’s life and works that I didn’t know before, though I still think Marlowe is cooler.
This post was not sponsored or endorsed by HarvardX, Harvard University, Professor Stephen Greenblatt or edX.
You can find out more about HarvardX here.
You can find out more about edX here.
I’m going to my first ever WorldCon in a couple of weeks! I’m super excited to be included as part of the programming, and here’s all the places you can find me during the Dublin 2019 event:
A Kaffeeklatsch is a small, informal gathering where we can talk about whatever you like! We can chat video games, esports, comics, writing, books, life in Dublin, or anything else that’s on your mind! If you’ve attended previous WorldCons, I’d also love to hear some of your con stories, if you’re willing to share!
I’ll also try to bring along some League of Legends swag for anyone attending.
You need to sign up for the Kaffeeklatsch (places are quite limited), and I believe you can do that at the event itself.
Marvel properties on the big screen have often been lambasted as having poorly conceptualised depictions of women: is this deserved? From the introduction of Black Widow through the animated Spider Gwen and now Captain Marvel as a leading lady, have women acquired better stories or just more screen time? What still needs improving? And how do the Marvel women compare to the critical acclaim of DC’s Wonder Woman?
A panel I’m really looking forward to! Come join myself, Peter V. Brett, Debra Jess, Benjamin Rosenbaum and Karina Steffens as we discuss the women of the MCU.
(I have a lot of feelings on Black Widow, and I want to be Spider-Gwen.)
In recent years, there have been many video game remakes and remasters – Crash Bandicoot, Resident Evil II, Tomb Raider – and many much anticipated future titles like Final Fantasy VII, but how do some go so right, and some so far wrong?
League of Legends hasn’t yet been remade, but the fun of a ten-year-old game is that it’s constantly reinventing itself. It’s always a joy to see how our Champions team updates and changes older characters, trying to maintain their essence while updating them for players in 2019.
But what happens when whole games are completely remade? Why are some fantastic and some…less so? I’ll probably be talking about Tomb Raider, Duke Nukem, Final Fantasy and a bunch of other stuff! Come along!
In 2018 the League of Legends World Championship final had almost 100 million viewers. While esports are slowly gaining more mainstream recognition, will they ever achieve the same mainstream acceptance and appeal as ‘regular’ sports? Our panellists discuss the attractions of esports – to play and to watch – and their future direction.
esports! Go!
Come along and hear me chatting about what it’s like to work for a company known for its hugely massive esports scene, and my personal thoughts on stuff like The Overwatch League and the recent Fortnite World Cup.
(Thunder sticks not included.)
I’m really looking forward to attending my first WorldCon, and I have a lot to learn about the con’s traditions and recurring events. I’ve been watching a lot of vlogs and listening to a lot of podcasts to get a feel for the event—if you have any recommendations, I’d love to hear them.
Let me know if you’re attending WorldCon Dublin 2019 in the comments below!