Free online course about AIDS
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ThomasNMn
Posts: 37
Hello all,
I just came across this website that offers free university classes and discovered that they are offering a class on AIDS that starts Feb 25th. I have no idea about the quality of the course, nor how the class will work, but thought it would at least be interesting to take the class to learn more about this disease that has greatly affected our community(myself included as an HIV positive individual). Here is the link if anyone else is interested in checking it out:
https://www.coursera.org/course/aids
Peace,
Thomas
I just came across this website that offers free university classes and discovered that they are offering a class on AIDS that starts Feb 25th. I have no idea about the quality of the course, nor how the class will work, but thought it would at least be interesting to take the class to learn more about this disease that has greatly affected our community(myself included as an HIV positive individual). Here is the link if anyone else is interested in checking it out:
https://www.coursera.org/course/aids
Peace,
Thomas
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Thomas,
I think you are doing an amazing job. Hopefully you can open a few minds by being open about it.0 -
Thanks for posting the link. I signed up for it.0
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Excellent. Thanks for sharing!0
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No problem.
. Thanks for the kind words.
So the class started today, and I have to say, I'm extremely impressed about the quality of the course. Considering it's completely free, it's amazing.
For anyone that might not be interested in the subject matter, there are a TON of other classes on all kinds of subjects on the website as well.
I think I like this whole idea of free classes online and hope it continues.0 -
That's awesome! I'll be checking it out and seeing what I'd like to learn more about The AIDS one is a good one. Kudos to you for getting the word out and sharing, it's admirable. 0
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Wheeeeeee!!!
I have an AIDS denial-ist trying to engage me in a flame war on every post I make in the course. This is an absolute blast, because not only am I EASILY able to discredit everything this person posts, but it also causes me to learn more.
I'm LOVING this class.
Thanks Ryan - I really hope you do and I appreciate the kind words.0 -
I did a coursera class last summer on the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). The lectures were great. I didn't do the homework, reading, or on-line discussions just because I was traveling a lot at that time, but I would highly recommend coursera based on that experience.
On the downside, I read a funny story about a coursera on-line class on teaching on-line classes. Apparently, the course was so poorly designed and the website so overloaded that they cancelled the class a couple of weeks in. Turned out to be an on-line class on how not to teach on-line classes.0 -
A Coursera instructor offering an online course on how to manage an online course has apparently given her students – all 40,000 of them – an unintentional lesson on how not to do just that.
Just a week after its launch, a course on the “Fundamentals of Online Learning” was suspended after complaints by students about technical glitches, confusing instructions and problems with the group-oriented design of the class.
Led by Fatimah Wirth, an instructional designer at the Georgia Institute of Technology, the class was intended to cover online pedagogy, course design, assessment, web tools and other relevant topics. But, as first reported by Inside Higher Ed, several of the students – many of whom are educators and online learning experts themselves – quickly took to Twitter and their own blogs to document the “MOOC Mess.”
On her blog, Online Learning Insights, educator and instructional designer Debbie Morrison called it “the disaster at Coursera.”
http://gigaom.com/2013/02/04/oh-the-irony-coursera-suspends-online-course-about-how-to-run-an-online-course/0 -
Something like that is bound to happen. It's definitely in it's infancy and experiencing growing pains.
So far - the lectures and content are great - however, the AIDS denialists are hijacking every thread and making student discussion on the forums impossible.
I came out as HIV poz in one forum and ever since then - one of the denialists has been hounding me relentlessly. He says I take a death pill and he called another student a murderer for suggesting that positive people take medications.
The latest attack is today - he's slandering my name and saying that I'm trying to cause dissent and turn the student body against him.
I'm trying to get Coursera to ban him, and if they don't I'm afraid I won't be able to continue the class.
I don't need this kind of stress in my life and I'm a bit worried that he might try to take it further outside of this class environment.0 -
Sorry to hear that, Thomas. I would have thought the huge drop in death rate when HAART became available would have convinced the people who denied that AIDS is caused by HIV. I'm glad I don't run across them all the time like I used to 20 years ago.0
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Hi friends,
I signed up and agree that the content is great, I read And the Band Played On about 3 years ago and have been hooked on the early history of the disease since. Even as a physician, I find the course informative.
I have been put off by the behaviour of certain participants in the course. Usually, these people have a single agenda, and don't take it beyond the public sphere, since their goal is disruption. One of the major flaws of open courseware, and the American ideal of Freedom of Speech.0 -
Something like that is bound to happen. It's definitely in it's infancy and experiencing growing pains.
So far - the lectures and content are great - however, the AIDS denialists are hijacking every thread and making student discussion on the forums impossible.
I came out as HIV poz in one forum and ever since then - one of the denialists has been hounding me relentlessly. He says I take a death pill and he called another student a murderer for suggesting that positive people take medications.
The latest attack is today - he's slandering my name and saying that I'm trying to cause dissent and turn the student body against him.
I'm trying to get Coursera to ban him, and if they don't I'm afraid I won't be able to continue the class.
I don't need this kind of stress in my life and I'm a bit worried that he might try to take it further outside of this class environment.
It is not nice to hassel any one even on line it is called bullying. It is so present in the movement and it is not limited to De Nile ists. It is a pretty big river.
The believers in the goverment conspiracy therorists all have their narrow view until they are diagnosed. I met quiet a few in the early 1990's in Toronto.
But almost as bad as the goverment agencies that run the AIDS service organizations. I can only think of tow that still do any good for their communities. Kingston Ontario is one.0 -
I joined a songwriting course with a friend all because of you linking me to the site.
Sorry you're dealing with an *kitten*. Probably best to just leave him alone.0 -
Thanks again for the encouragement.
The good news is that because I decided to stand up and submit a complaint to the Coursera management, steps are being taken to address the issue. The professor has sent out an email to the entire student body asking everyone to simply ignore these disruptive posts.
One of the issues is that the course allows people to make anonymous posts and one of the dissidents continues to make reference to me by name when someone makes a point he doesn't agree with, stating that my HIV meds are causing dementia. I'm learning to simply brush it off and actually laugh about it.
I feel kind of good that I've actually been able to make positive steps to turn the class into a healthier learning environment. Plus, I'm also learning more about what makes AIDS denialists tick, so all in all it's a good thing. Just gotta remind myself to stay grounded.
Ryan - I hope you really enjoy that songwriting course. I'm signed up for like 20 courses overall. LOL. I don't plan on doing the assignments, I just love to learn.
Wait_loss - what do you think or know of Minnesota AIDS project? There are some issues, but overall, I think it's a great organization.
IDeliver - what did you think of And the band played on> Loved the movie - thinking of getting the book. I would love to hear your views in the forums as a physician.
Treetop - it's all good. These are the type of people that no matter what you say, they'll twist the meaning to suit their agenda. Unfortunately, one of them has taken it to a personal level and this has really scared alot of people.0 -
Interesting, I'll check it out.
I knew/lost a lot of people in the 80's. I have to say I really lost touch with the entire issue after the early 90's - and everyone I knew with it was gone. Was really burned out on it.0 -
When people post things that are redundent. could you ask them. Could you tell me the study that was published in a journal that supports that claim as you have not read the study and would like to see the peer reviewed journal for scientific evidence based that can substantiat thier claim. This generally makes them llok like an idiot. And says you are open minded. As you are not playing into the hand of trying to upset you. Always ask for scientific evidence based corelation to outlandish claims. I know that the virus crosses the blood brain barrier and with increased viral load. This is known to cause signs of confusion. the medications reduces viral load thus reducing the effects of signs of confusion. For the un enlightened alsways ask for scientific publications or peer reviewed.0
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Thanks again for the encouragement.
I feel kind of good that I've actually been able to make positive steps to turn the class into a healthier learning environment. Plus, I'm also learning more about what makes AIDS denialists tick, so all in all it's a good thing. Just gotta remind myself to stay grounded.
Wait_loss - what do you think or know of Minnesota AIDS project? There are some issues, but overall, I think it's a great organization.
I do not know of Americain AIDS Service Organizations. I know down in Windsor Ontario the Executive director is on record as saying " PHA's are not her priority" And Joanne Lush with the AIDS Bureaue the goverment funding body to ASO's in Ontario Says we do not need and should not seek the in put and engagement of Persons living with HIV or AIDS. Contrary to The UN's directive on the GIPA principals. This states that Greater Involvement in the diccision process by People Having and Living with HIV or AIDS in the directions of decisions around these organizations and their care. in All areas. Canada is one of the few countries that does not have an indipendent body of recognised PHA's
On another note Their is a new influx of diagnosed people happening that we have not seen before. These people are Hetero sexual and are being diagnosed alot later as they do not fit the general screening. There has been about ten people just in the city of Windsor diagnosed this past year. Going to doctors for two years not having a diagnosis. "As these are not those kind of people. " We are back at the four "H" club of the mid 1980's The only people that need screening is The hyperdermic drug individuals, Haitians, Homosexuals, and the inocent Hemopheliacs. Just want to hit my head against the wall on this. Epidemiology points that those at greatest risk is youth 12-24 and Women over 40 along with the MSM community Men who have sex with Men. So clinical. Men don't love Men we just have sex with them. I have lived through the heart of the pandemic lost over 140 friends stopped counting in 1993. Diagnosed mid 1980's So been their done that. AS for not going on meds. Long past are the days of people overdosed on AZT. So to the Denielists, The Nile is a pretty big river. Look over there at the piramids. lol0 -
Any thoughts about the Coursea AIDS class now that it's finished? I watched the lectures and did the quizzes, but I didn't participate in the discussion boards or finish any of the writing assignments.Of the 18,600 students from 174 countries who initially enrolled in her nine-week Coursera class on AIDS, some 10,601 actively participated, keeping up with online discussion forums, essays and quizzes. Untold numbers also signed up to simply audit the course material.
But through the personal stories that began filtering back, Hagen realized that her course had a far greater reach than she expected.
The class drew a range of participants, from health professionals and educators to college students and the curious.
One student, who had adopted four HIV-positive children, took the course to "learn to be the best parent and support person possible." A high school teacher, alarmed at the number of HIV-positive students at her school, sought "the right information" to share with sexually active adolescents. Another never had the courage to reveal his HIV-positive status to family and co-workers before taking the class.
All told, it was a vibrant, engaged community eager to discuss what they were learning, through online forums and beyond.
"There were many situations where people were gathering to watch (the online course), be it a village in Nigeria or an athletic team here in the U.S.," Hagen recalls.
In fact, it wasn't unusual to hear about efforts to gather an entire village, Peace Corps team or hospital staff to share and discuss her video, says Hagen, who jokes that MOOC could just as easily stand for "Maximizing Outreach to Outsider Communities."
Hagen recalls a Muslim student living in an Islamic country (she prefers to protect the location) who "would watch the videos and go from village to village to share with other women what she'd learned."
Going into the Coursera experiment, Hagen had no idea of its full potential. But observing students embrace the topic and become educators themselves, dispersing their knowledge to others -- for a teacher, she says, it doesn't get much better.
"This is easily one of the most significant things I've ever done in my entire life," Hagen says.
http://news.emory.edu/stories/2013/05/er_coursera_update/campus.html?utm_source=ebulletin&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EmoryReport_EB_0521130
