Experiencing an open/free course

The design of the course was a lecture that was uploaded on YouTube and it was really interesting! The course was Family and Couples PSY being that I am a communication major I really thought it was awesome.  Human relationships are interesting and the impact you can have on a human depending on the level of contact, such as duration and frequency was what his lecture entailed.  This was week one lecture and I will continue with the lectures, since it is free! 

The material was presented in lecture via YouTube and since it was on YouTube you cannot have a dialogue with the professor, although you can blog!  It seems to be more personable by simply seeing the professor and his passion on the subject was obvious.  The thing that really seems different than the face to face is that you cannot ask the question and get the immediate gratification of getting your question answered and you cannot see the other students, although you can hear them. It is not real time and is a point of time, which can be of some value depending on your needs.  The learning experience is definitely different than having an on-line course interaction or a traditional classroom interaction. 

This was the Families and couples Psychology course first lecture and it was great to see that the teacher is energetic and was intriguing the students was great!   His theory of interdependence and intimacy need to have one another.   He talks about how intimate relationships are powerful and how intimate relationships affect more than love and is universal.  Because you have to bond with another human being in a certain way and 90% of the world that people want to bond for their whole life and this is an idea that is cross cultural.

 I can see this  type of educational course being valuable for k-12 students who have missed class or are too ill to be in class, for example children who may be going through chemotherapy or other severe health problems.  The challenge would be that you may not have the full engagement, since you know attention spans can be minimal in all ages.  The opportunity to do something else comes along and multi-task or do something more interesting in this type of education or any on-line learning environment will always be a challenge. It happens in conference calls, webinars, etc. It is interesting how does put in the perspective that teachers and students have a relationship, although it is not intimate they are interdependent on one another.  An example is that the teachers actions reflects the student outcomes and vice versa.