Was Alexander Great? A MOOC offered by Wellesley College on EdX
Out of curiosity, I decided to take another MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) offered by Wellesley College through EdX. This one is Was Alexander Great?, a course on the life and accomplishments of Alexander of Macedonia, taught by Wellesley College professor Guy MacLean Rogers.
Okay, Mr. Rogers is obviously very much impressed by Alexander, and he probably spent his life researching on this topic, so the course title, "Was Alexander Great" is probably just a rhetorical question. Rogers is also not as engaging and fun to listen to as Adam Van Arsdale, another Wellesley professor who taught the MOOC on Anthropology, which I also took and enjoyed tremendously. However, I do find the Alexander course quite interesting. In elementary school, I might have read something about Alexander, but never knew anything about him in depth.
Given the fact that the feats of Alexander the Great occurred over 2000 years ago, I find it impressive that there are so many primary sources related to his life and accomplishments. Kudos to the historians' accounts, and the various memorials attesting to Alexander's accomplishments that still exist to this day. As a historical figure, it is also interesting to learn about Alexander's abundant war acumen, tactics and decisions that enabled him to defeat and conquer the Persian Empire at the age of 27. Additionally, the fact that Alexander who was supposedly a descendant of Hercules and of the Trojan War hero Achilles, makes it clear that at some point in Greek history, the Greek mythology that we grew up reading about did in fact influence the course of history.
So far, I am doing well in the class without actually doing much of the reading. I just don't have the time to study the subject matter that carefully. But then again, I suppose this is the nature of MOOCs. The convenience of listening to the lectures on my computer, downloading them onto my tablet or phone, is a great way to learn something new while on the go.
Okay, Mr. Rogers is obviously very much impressed by Alexander, and he probably spent his life researching on this topic, so the course title, "Was Alexander Great" is probably just a rhetorical question. Rogers is also not as engaging and fun to listen to as Adam Van Arsdale, another Wellesley professor who taught the MOOC on Anthropology, which I also took and enjoyed tremendously. However, I do find the Alexander course quite interesting. In elementary school, I might have read something about Alexander, but never knew anything about him in depth.
So far, I am doing well in the class without actually doing much of the reading. I just don't have the time to study the subject matter that carefully. But then again, I suppose this is the nature of MOOCs. The convenience of listening to the lectures on my computer, downloading them onto my tablet or phone, is a great way to learn something new while on the go.
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