Coursera class structure

The structure of the class, is that every week there are assignments. There is no reading assignment the first week, but I'm trying to read through the Odyssey and do some background stuff, tangental stuff. The first week we are introduced to the context of the Odyssey, what are various ways of looking at Greek myths, with various scholars putting forth various interpretations. I just watched the 5th of 7 lectures with my son as we waited for school. Peter Struck seems like a good lecturer to me. To pass the first week, and prove you've watched the videos, you need to pass a quiz. I find that the interesting question with on line learning, how do you know if people are getting the content. I'm also excited about grading 5 other people's papers, because I think I'll learn from that as well.

I took a class on AOL in the 90's on the Brothers Grimm fairy tales. That was interesting and I learned a lot, but I found discussion with the teacher impossible. Everyone would shoot a question at him and he would answer one, and then it would happen again and again...

I think the hard thing is dialogue. To counter that they have meet ups. Seems there is a whole bunch of people who do the courses in NYC. Not sure if there is a specific group for this class. I haven't found a chat room, but that would be interesting. First you have something to say. I have ideas, but mostly I'm learning.

There are people in the class from all over the world. It seems like some are doing it to practice their English. A lot of people brag about their academic accomplishments. Smart people seem to like to keep learning.

I polled my friends about their experience of the Odyssey. Some liked it, some found it boring. They told me to watch O Brother, Where Art Thou? I saw it a while ago, but I'll probably watch it again.

Better get to the last two 15 minute lectures, and take the quiz.