Free/Open Online Courses

Open Yale Course
HIST 116: The American Revolution

Since the adoption of the CCSS, the American Revolution is now a part of the fifth grade curriculum. Upon looking for free online courses I came across Open Yale Course which allows people to take part in various introductory courses of all subjects. In choosing HIST 116: The American Revolution, I was given a quick synopsis of the course as well as background on the professor, JoAnne Freeman a honored historian who has written many books that have received national attention surrounding America’s early history. Similar to the online courses at Regis, the course was laid out by lectures, a total of 17. Within each lecture is a youtube video of the actual lesson along with video chapters on specific topics varying from two minutes to thirty minutes. Topics and lectures are fluid with supplementary tools such as books and links to help go deeper into the topic. With any online class, there is a layer of flexible pacing and scheduling. Through the explicit lecture set-up and youtube videos, students who may be absent or need repeated exposure to a topic are not left behind with course material. Through the Open Course, participants are not granted degrees, or credits toward degrees, nor direct access to faculty making it difficult for clarification or additional support.

Even though this is a higher education course devoted to lifelong learning and dissemination of high quality information, these courses could definitely have their place in secondary education as a prep course for college, allowing students to get an authentic experience with higher education and understand the demands and framework as they differ from high school.