I have an idea for this summer I thought I would share and get input from the great cloud (i.e., you, whoever might be reading this). Here's the essence:
Hebrews
1. Using some medium (Google Hangouts, Vimeo, etc...), I would record a programmed series of lectures on Hebrews over the course of the summer, probably two a week. It would be a kind of video commentary that could be packaged and sold as a DVD at the end, maybe with some edited version of the "Explanatory Notes" I've done in the past.
2. I would roll these out in conjunction with some chat or interaction time, perhaps on this blog, perhaps on Facebook.
3. I would store them on a site I have called "cafetutor.com," which I just noticed is down for some reason. The videos and explanatory notes would be free (but of course I'd put up a Pay Pal link on the side just in case someone wanted to waste their money ;-).
4. I would also offer a sample undergraduate and graduate syllabus for what a Hebrews course might look like. For some appropriate fee (significantly less than taking a course somewhere), if a person wanted actually to produce the papers and artifacts from these syllabi (and including a final, recorded interaction between me and the person), a person would have the kind of artifacts that could be brought to an accredited institution and evaluated for "credit by assessment." In other words, a person might be able to get undergraduate or graduate credit if they presented the artifacts to a college or seminary, including my feedback and recorded final interview. This is an extension of the open course ware out there right now.
Independent Studies
The same thing I've suggested above for Hebrews could, in theory, be done with anything I would be qualified to supervise given my academic credentials. I can't promise what an academic institution would accept for credit by assessment, but most institutions have this possibility tucked away in their catalogs. If a person wanted to "do a course" with me, we could design one together for an appropriate amount and produce artifacts for that university or seminary. We might even clear it with the university or seminary ahead of time.
Classic Book Reviews
If I might do the above in the summers, throughout the year I might video or audio record book reviews of classics, chapter by chapter. For example, I'm looking at Varieties of Religious Experience and The Origin of Species right now in conjunction with more contemporary things I'm
Any feedback or suggestions?
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6 comments:
Yeah, like you're going to have time to correct more work :-)
Hey, it'll be the summer... and I assume no one would give me any money to evaluate their stuff until after I'd got it back ;-)
Sounds like a fabulous idea in theory, but I do wonder just how well it would work in practice. I'm afraid so many of us have gotten used to "stuff" online for free, that I fear many wouldn't be willing to pay what your time is worth.
That said, I might be one who would be at least theoretically interested. How it would line up with my time and what the final price would be would be major issues in whether I could actually do it.
The model here is fundamentally free. The vidcasts would be free. The explanatory notes would be free. Any discussion would be free. The only things a person would have to pay for is if a person wanted my assessment of written materials in hope of getting academic credit somewhere. Perhaps no one would be interested, but it would actually be a rather cheap way to get college or seminary credit. If a typical college course costs more than $1500, if I charge $150 to assess a portfolio and the credit by assessment at the college costs $200, a student has just saved $1150 to get 3 hours of college credit.
I'm planning on working through Mounce's Basics of Biblical Greek stuff this summer. I wonder if I could turn in work to you, and it could serve as a means to keep me accountable, and maybe at the end you could give me an assessment of my work that might be worth credit someday?
Be glad to help Phil. I'm actually teaching "Greek for Ministry" for the seminary this summer and doing a weekly vidcast. It will be with students in the class, but you could audit. I might even be able to let you participate for free.
Greek is a little different because I'm not sure what the artifacts would need to be. On this one, you could actually take it for credit. A person doesn't have to be working toward a degree to take a course at the seminary. Anyone can pop in for one course.
Of course this is Greek for Ministry. It only teaches the categories. It doesn't require memorization of the forms.
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