Understanding the Brain

I stayed in during lunch today and I thought I'd check out Coursera to see if there is something interesting to learn. I have mentioned before that I am interested to learn more about the brain and I found this course. 

Understanding the Brain: The Neurobiology of Everyday Life by The University of Chicago

I signed up though the course is very long: a full 10-week course. The longest of all Coursera courses I've ever taken. 

The lecturer is Dr Peggy Mason, Professor of Neurobiology and she is actually quite funny and witty at times. I completed Week 1 during lunch today, I enjoyed listening to her and I learnt so much. 

It's going to be long and tedious but I am looking forward to the following 9 weeks. 

pearlie

Need to start thinking and learning again

 

With my recent subscription to Apple Music, I have been listening to it every time I commute to and from work and it is partly good and partly bad. Good in the sense, I am listening more to music but bad in that I am not thinking much anymore compared to when I used to drive in silence. 

So I decided to drive in quietness this morning and it was nice to go back to thinking again. 

I thought about what I have learnt over the past years and my recent fascination in language. 

I thought how I spoke about my fascination in language during my recent training facilitation sessions and the linguistics online course, Miracles of Human Language, which I have started taking in Coursera but never completing it. 

I thought it would be good if I went back to it and finish the lectures and assignments, that I should reduce my time in watching too much TV and do something more useful. 

I stopped the course because it got tough. Linguistics is not an easy topic and I wasn't able to answer some of the quiz questions and that frustrated me. 

But I shouldn't give up so easily. And so I went back to it today. I am thankful they are still running the course and all I had to do was to reapply to a newer stream. 

I hope I will be firm with myself and complete it this time. Crossing my fingers. 

pearlie

NT Wright's Online Courses

I was aware of NT Wright's upcoming lectures on Romans and thanks to Kar Yong's reminder, I just checked it out only to realize that he has several MOOC lectures already running in udemy.com and here am I, a MOOC proponent never realizing that my favourite writer is actually running MOOC lectures. But they are not free though, like the other MOOC lectures I that have been following, which explains why I did not know. I have not registered myself in udemy.com yet because they do not give an option to take any courses free.

He has now six courses made available, including the Romans one which doesn't seem to be listed yet in udemy.com though you can access it from his own website. Check them out here in his website where you can send in requests for discounts. The link to the Romans one is here.

• Simply Jesus
• Simply Good News
• Worldviews, the Bible and the Believer
• Paul and His Letter to the Philippians
• Paul and His Letter to the Galatians
• Paul and His Epistle to the Romans

Check out this 20-min video of his Introduction to Romans and see if it will whet your appetite. 

pearlie

I completed the course on coaching

I've only signed up for two paid courses and this is the second one I've completed.

I've also completed these without any certificates, bringing to a total of six:


I have two more to complete and after that, I think I will take a break from lectures, though there's one on Early Christianity: The Letters of Paul and one on What is a Mind? which I think are too interesting to pass up. Here's learning getting the better of me, again.

pearlie

Completed my practical coaching assignment

I've completed my practical coaching sessions with the final session for my second coachee today, as part of the Coursera Conversation that Inspire: Coaching Learning, Leadership and Change course.

I've started the course back in October and it has been quite a good experience, learning the useful Intentional Change Theory (ICT) model developed by Richard Boyatzis and having very interesting coaching conversations with my coachees.

I've submitted the required written assignment. I will be required to do several peer assessments in the next few days before coming to a completion of the programme.

pearlie

A useful MOOC aggregator

I was introduced to this useful MOOC aggregator that helps group all your MOOC courses in one place. It also allows you to keep track of courses that you are interested in without enrolling, which was what I wanted to do in Coursera.org but was not able to.

And my list in Class Central is certainly growing.

pearlie

Seeing psychological disorders everywhere

I was trying to catch up on the Mental Illnesses lectures in the Introduction to Psychology course in Coursera. Professor Steve Joordens kept cautioning us that "learning about [psychological] disorders makes you see them everywhere, even in the mirror!"

It did in fact happened exactly as he cautioned. I noticed that I became quite down as a result in these few days, and it just might be because of the lectures, what with panic attacks and phobic disorders, depression and schizophrenia.

pearlie

How to best do your peer assessment assignments in online courses

I have again used up my weekend to catch up on my Coursera courses, and time well spent.

However, I was finding it hard when it comes to assessing the assignments of my peers. As much as I want to be generous in my assessment, which I usually am, I found it hard this time in the peer assessment of the final exam assignment in On Strategy: What Managers Can Learn From Philosophy - Part 1.

And from what I have learnt in my own submission, my peers' assessment of my work and my assessment of theirs, I think these will be good pointers on how to submit a good assignment in Coursera.

1. The most important point to take note is that the people who are assessing your papers are not experts. They probably just know as much as you do. Therefore, you need to present your paper clearly in the simplest form and language as you possibly can. If your arguments are all over the place or if your explanations are too complicated, most probably you will not be getting good assessments from your peers.

2. Read the assignment question properly and ensure you have met all the requirements. You need to know what exactly is required of you. For example, if they want two arguments, make sure you do have exactly two clearly different arguments.

3. Take note in the length required. This paper for example puts the requirements in number of characters, not words. I was assessing a paper which was 1500 words in length, when it was actually just 1500 characters required!

4. Arrange your assignment in sections according to the requirements. For example, if they asked for two arguments, title your sections Argument 1 and Argument 2. This will simplify it for your peers to give you the marks you deserve.

5. If you were to write a paper based on a topic taught in the online lectures, state the title and lecture number at the beginning of your paper. Not everyone will remember if your chosen topic were actually from the lectures. And you would have saved them the time to go check and keep their attention on your paper to give you your points.

6. Before you submit your work, check it though the evaluation criteria, i.e. what exactly will award you the points. This will enable you to ensure that you have included stuff that will actually give you the points. I have assessed assignments which have good information and views but because it does not meet the requirements, I could not award any points at all.

This is what I have so far. I will add on more when I come across more examples and when I submit and assess more assignments.

pearlie

Addicted to Learning

I have to admit that I am currently addicted to Coursera! What else am I when I'm currently actively enrolled in a total of five courses. I kept finding courses that interest me. One on coaching, one on psychology, one on philosophy, one on thinking and one on both thinking and philosophy for managers.

And I had to catch up with my coursework in Introduction to Psychology, having kept it aside for too long. I spent my entire day on it today and completed the mid-term exam which was a 64-question quiz, and a peer assessment written assignment.

I was to write a 500 to 700-word paper on a current event relating it to a psychological concept from the lectures. I decided to write about the Bystander Interference effect from the tragic death of Wang Yue.

I might post it here later, after the deadlines are passed. It is a very, very tragic story.

pearlie

My Gallup Top-5 Strengths and Coursera being a big part of it now

My top-5 Gallup strengths are Connectedness, Intellection, Input, Learner and Empathy.

When I first got the results I had no idea what is Connectedness, I don't know why I have Input as one of my top-5, I was proud of my Intellection, I thought Empathy for me was more like a given and I wasn't too impressed with my Learner.

My thoughts about my top-5 has now completely changed as I began to understand more about myself and the five Gallup themes.

My now most troublesome strength is really Intellection. I can lose myself in it and lose you in a conversation. You'll still be talking away but I will be busy thinking about something you have just said. That's bad.

I am most proud of my Input strength. When I finally understand what it represent, I began to see its utility, pun intended (Input is where I collect things because of their utility). This is where my resourcefulness is at its best. Ask my friends and they will attest to the fact that I can usually get them what they need when they ask for my help.

I am still discovering what Connectedness means to me, and this is what I believe is the hugest theme in all of Gallup's 34. Or I may be biased.

There is no change in how I feel about my Empathy theme, in that it's a given for me. Though there will be a time when I discover it more in relation to my values and action.

This brings me to final one of the five - Learner. I said I wasn't too impressed with it. It's like, "yeah, I learn. So what?"

I was in a full learning mode when I was taking my Masters in Christian Studies for 8 long years before. And after that I had wanted to take up something in psychology but I didn't do because I have to manage my family priorities. So in that sense, that left me with not many opportunities to learn. Yes, I read and yes, I watch TEDTalks (though only recently) but those really are just small snippets of learning that never really satisfy me, though I do learn a lot from reading but it's very challenging to find my right next read.

This was the situation till I rediscovered Coursera. I went to it in the mid of this year, and found that since I discovered it in 2013, it has improved a lot and maybe it is also because I'm more ready for it this phase of my life.

Coursera is a dream come true to me as a Learner but I think it will be my undoing as well - because I keep signing up for courses and how I am going to keep with lectures and assignments I have no idea!

So far I have completed one course in Fundamentals of a Project Planning and Management.

I have completed all lectures and quizzes in Conversations that Inspire: Coaching Learning, Leadership and Change, pending a submission of reports on 2 coaching assignments, which is still on-going.

I am midway through Introduction to Psychology. I have started on the lectures in August and almost finished them when they offered the course again in October and I signed up for it. A mid-term exam of 60-question quiz is where I am at the moment. I have not attempted it yet. Sixty questions! Oh boy...

I have just started On Strategy: What Managers can Learn from Philosophy and thoroughly enjoying it. The assignments are really challenging but I find them brilliant. Come to think of it, this course is like an amalgamation of my two strengths - Intellection or Thinking and Learner.

I should be happily settled with learning from these three courses running in tandem but I went and signed up for two more! Most probably I will not be actively following them. They are Introduction to Philosophy and Think Again: How to Reason and Argue.

But then again, looking now at the titles, I might just make time. So now you see what I mean by Coursera is both a dream come true and my undoing.

pearlie

Completed: Fundamentals of Project Planning and Management

Yay...I have completed the Fundamentals of Project Planning and Management course in Coursera and obtained 99.4% in achievement with a Statement of Accomplishment.

I did not sign up for a certificate, and had not expected it. So it does give me a sense of satisfaction to have some sort of a "certificate of attendance" but most of all, it is good to brush up on my skills and know-how in Project Planning and Management.

pearlie

This will be a busy month...but it is good busy

I suddenly have quite a lot to do in terms of my own learning and development activities. I have been reading the office politics book but I have stalled halfway there.

I have started on a new book: Crucial Conversations, and it is quite interesting, in spite of some bad reviews in Amazon.com.


Crucial Conversation: Tools for Talking when Stakes are High
by Joseph Grenny, Kerry Patterson and Ron McMillen

I have also started on two Coursera courses. Coincidentally, both of them begin on the same day today.

Introduction to Psychology
I was watching the 2-year old lectures by Professor Steve Joordens still available in Coursera a couple of months back and stopped at Week 6 or 7, when I found out that they are offering it again. Now that it started and I begin from the very first lecture, I found out that they are still using the same videos recorded 2 years ago. It really doesn't matter as I can get the working memory become long term memory. The only issue is that some of the links in the old videos no longer work. I hope they would fix it for this round.

Conversations that Inspire:
Coaching Learning, Leadership and Change
I signed up for this and I am really looking forward to it. I have been certified as a Gallup Strengths Coach but I would love to learn any additional skills and know-how to coaching.

I only hope I can manage my time well this month, going through two lectures at one go.

pearlie