Night Elf Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 Can someone point me to an explanation of how to build an entire course around a series of lectures? I'm thinking something like has been written, but I haven't yet found it in the archives. I love the idea of the videos. It would be a great opportunity to start ds15 on note taking. But he's going to need bookwork, questions and/or worksheets. I would also need quizzes and tests. I plan to submit this course portfolio to Keystone for a transfer credit. I am looking at regular courses, not high school courses. I believe I understand a course guidebook comes with high school classes but not regular classes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 I use the the supplemental info that they send in email which gives book lists and the course guidebook that comes w/the lectures. The guidebook will include suggested readings if you need that level of detail as well as essay type questions/areas for further research. Creating tests from the guidebooks themselves would be fairly easy b/c they are the highlighted parts of the lectures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TammyS Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 I will say this...I've had two sets now from "The Great Courses" and I haven't been thrilled with either of them. They weren't awful, but they were nothing I would build a course around. Many people love TGC, so I'm guessing there is unevenness between the various courses. If at all possible, I would get the lecture set you are thinking of using and preview at least some of the lectures first, to see if it's really something you want to invest time and money into. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa B Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 Also, a few of the professors have textbooks out. I know I have a textbook by the author of one of our geology couses that matches up with the lectures nicely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 The course guidebook with the lecture outlines often has reading assignments for each lecture, and essay/discussion questions. Some courses have extensive reading assignments of both primary and secondary sources. You can use a selection of those for book work. I use a lot of TC lectures for history and literature. We have used the Vandiver lectures for classics in addition to reading the original works of literature, with self-selected essay topics. We have used the Daileader Middle ages lectures and Bartlett's Renaissance lectures in addition to a normal history textbook - but we could also have used the reading assignments in the course booklet. I never use any worksheets or quizzes, but you could easily design your own from the lecture outlines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngieW in Texas Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 My 16yo loved the Philosophy of Mind course. A guidebook comes with it that has supplemental readings and some questions. I had her do as many of the supplemental readings as I could find (quite a few of the articles were free online) and answer all the questions. I counted it as a one semester course. She is going to do the 12-week Coursera course for Sci-Fi/Fantasy literature this summer and then she'll do the 24-lecture series, Masterpieces of the Imaginative Mind. I figure one lecture/week in addition to doing the readings and writing a couple of papers ought to be enough to count for one credit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted June 26, 2012 Author Share Posted June 26, 2012 I don't know what subject I want to try. I would just like to find an additional class for ds15 that isn't directly Keystone. We like our Keystone classes and he will graduate with a diploma, but I also like being able to choose some courses to do at home. I think he'll be okay with the lectures as long as they aren't every day of the week. You guys are saying that guidebooks do come with the courses so I can manage from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twigs Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 Mathematics, Philosophy, and the Real World is my favorite Teaching Company course. It pulls together topics from geometry, statistics, philosophy, art, the Declaration of Independence, … You might find some ideas with the course syllabus used by the professor in her college course. Best wishes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 Just a warning about note taking. The lectures aren't like in-person lectures--they go much faster. It is difficult for a novice note taker to listen and write at the same time. Some of the courses we have liked: Big History Understanding the Universe Physics in Your Life Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laughing lioness Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 Ds watched the GC Shakespeare and has participated in Shakespeare Camp (shout out to Caitilin!) - this will be his second summer. last year they did MacBeth, this year The Tempest. The kids memorize the Dover edition- 6 hrs a day, 6 days, 2 hr performance. Caitilin also led a Shakespeare class 2 yrs ago, 1 hour a week, for about 20 weeks; overview of plays. Ds also did Whitling's Guide to Shakespeare- good overveiw his fresh yr. He'll do a 3rd play next summer (God and Caitilin willing). I'm counting it as 1-credit of lit. This year he'll do physics. He'll go through Apologia's book with DVD and labs and watch the GC physics program. DD did this with Chem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomatHWTK Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 I always try to read the reviews for the courses I'm interested in buying. I take a look at the comments that go along with a low rating to see if the issue the reviewer had would be an issue for me as well. That being said, we've not started watching our first set yet. Hopefully I won't be disappointed and those reviewers did a good job for me. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caitilin Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 Lisa, empty your pm box! :auto: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eloquacious Posted July 3, 2012 Share Posted July 3, 2012 My 16yo loved the Philosophy of Mind course. A guidebook comes with it that has supplemental readings and some questions. I had her do as many of the supplemental readings as I could find (quite a few of the articles were free online) and answer all the questions. I counted it as a one semester course. She is going to do the 12-week Coursera course for Sci-Fi/Fantasy literature this summer and then she'll do the 24-lecture series, Masterpieces of the Imaginative Mind. I figure one lecture/week in addition to doing the readings and writing a couple of papers ought to be enough to count for one credit. I only just realized that the same professor (Eric Rabkin) taught the Great Courses class. I had had it on my wish list for some time, and now since I'm going to take the Coursera class this July, I'm going to watch the Great Courses DVDs, too. (AND our library has them! Joy!!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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