MOOCs – Savannah Schaffer

Book Blogging: The Odyssey, Book I

June 19, 2014 June 19, 2014Book Blogging, Culture, Education, History, Literature

I’ve always had a fascination with Greek literature, and it seems that my interest is never satisfied. Even after doing a MOOC from Harvard last year on “The Greek Hero” I was excited to see another MOOC from University of Pennsylvania on Greek and Roman Mythology. So far—two weeks into the course—it has been amazing! The first book assigned to read for the class was The Odyssey. However, the reading is split up into three weeks, so for each week I’ll be reading 8 of the 24 books (aka chapters) of The Odyssey. You know you’re into Greek lit when…

Thus Concludes My Chemistry Adventures

April 5, 2014 April 5, 2014Education, Life

After several days of my desk and most of my floor being covered with chemistry notes in preparation for the final, I am officially done with my chemistry class! : ) It was really fun and challenging, but I am quite happy to be done. I like a bit of science and math, but not too much, haha. With National Poetry Month starting, it took a lot of discipline to study for this final instead of writing poetry. Now I think I’ll be focusing on econ and history to get ready for Mises U this summer. I’m looking forward to…

I Could Be Bounded in a Nutshell

March 3, 2014 March 3, 2014Christianity, Fiction, Life, Literature

I recently finished an online course by Futurelearn.com about Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet. I wanted to share some reflections on what I learned and what I found most interesting about the course. Although I had read Hamlet a few times prior to this course, I confess that I never really “got” the point. I didn’t see why Hamlet was so upset about his father’s death, and the whole thing just didn’t make sense. But this course helped me understand what it is all about. Hamlet isn’t just about a prince avenging his father’s murder…it is about a young man grappling with the fundamental questions of our existence….

Let There Be Light!

February 26, 2014 February 26, 2014Education, Life

I’ve been experiencing a gambit of emotions during this chemistry class. From, “this is so challenging and fun!” to “I can’t believe I signed myself up for this??” to “okay, if I work really hard I can figure this out,” to finally this week something between wild elation and overwhelming trepidation. Haha, who know a chemistry could incite so many feelings? Anyways…the class this week is introducing the concept of quantum physics and the atomic nature of light! Has anyone wondered, “what exactly is light?” This has been a familiar topic of thought for me, although I think my favorite…

Randomness

February 12, 2014 February 12, 2014Education, Life

When I resurrected my blog last month I had a mental resolution to post at least once a day. And that resolution has officially been broken, haha. But I keep reminding myself that it isn’t the end of the world if I don’t blog every single day. Although I just ran across an article warning of the coming end of the world on February 22nd, as predicted by Norse mythology. Sure, the Mayans got it wrong, but perhaps the Vikings are on to something! I’ll be honest and say I have no idea what this post is going to be…

The Queen’s Allegiance: An Exploration of Hamlet

February 10, 2014 February 10, 2014Essays, Literature

This essay is “hot off the press” (aka, I wrote it about 10 minutes ago) for my MOOC class on Hamlet. Enjoy! There are three different versions of Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet. The First, or “Bad” Quarto includes a scene which the other two versions leave out completely. This scene is a dialogue between Queen Gertrude and Horatio. Horatio tells the queen that Hamlet has escaped the death trap set by his uncle, King Claudius, (he was sent to England with a sealed letter to the King of England requesting Hamlet’s immediate execution) and is back in Denmark. In the other…

A Random Assortment of Pictures

February 8, 2014 February 8, 2014Life

I am a bit swamped with homework today, trying to finish everything today so I don’t start next week behind. So instead of an actual blog post, I thought I’d share some photos as a visual summary of my week : )

Giving In

February 6, 2014 February 6, 2014Education, Life

I aced the first two weeks of chemistry by doing math my own eccentric way. But it is week 3 and I’ve resigned myself to dimensional analysis. Bad news: the equations no longer make any sense. Good news: I can actually solve the equations correctly.

What I Learned Last Week

February 4, 2014 February 4, 2014Christianity, Culture, Education, History, Life, Literature

It’s a bit awkward when you sit down to write a blog post about everything you learned last week and your mind goes completely blank. I know that I didn’t do much besides studying, but I don’t remember a thing, haha. At that point I pull out my trusty binder and refer to the prodigious notes created last week. And now I remember one thing: I got a 100% on my chemistry exam! That literally stunned me. I am not strong in science or math, so I’ve thought it impossible for me to do well in a subject like chemistry….

Link Love

February 1, 2014 February 1, 2014Christianity, Culture, Education, Shared

This is an interesting article arguing that it isn’t necessary to formally teach math. Who invented writing? This charming video from TED Ed describes the development of writing. This looks like a neat writing curriculum, Brave writing. What does it mean to remember? I haven’t watched this TED video yet, but it looks really fascinating. I enjoyed reading about a Day in the Life of a Waldorf Kindergarten. Some thought-provoking ideas about reading from Albert Mohler. I haven’t completely watched this video either (for some reason I have a really hard time watching videos) , but the subject, why MOOCs still matter,…

Tag: MOOCs