Learn about online course initiatives at open house

All members of the university community can learn about online projects underway at Yale and the ways in which they can participate during an open house on Monday, Dec. 2, hosted by the Online Education Committee.

The event will take place at 4 p.m. in Rm. 101 of Linsly-Chittenden Hall, 63 High St. Five Yale faculty members and two students will discuss their various online courses or projects. Craig Wright, the Henry L. and Lucy G. Professor of music and academic director of online education, will start the afternoon’s presentations.

The presenters and their topics are:

• Diana E.E. Kleiner, the Dunham Professor of History of Art and Classics — Open Yale Courses and making the transition to the “Roman Architecture” massive open online course (MOOC) she is preparing for Coursera, an education company that partners with top universities and organizations in the world to offer free courses online for anyone to take;

• Paul Bloom, the Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science — teaching a Yale summer online course;

• James Rolf, the Shizuo Kakutani Lecturer in Math — “flipping” his residential “Calculus 115” course in the fall semester;

• Michael Schwartz, associate professor of neurobiology and associate dean for curriculum at Yale School of Medicine — using online teaching and learning materials at the medical school;

• Wai Chee Dimock, the William Lampson Professor of English and American Studies —  on an idea to go online but not in a MOOC format;

• Sara Ronis, a graduate student in the Judaic Studies Program — the opportunities online education presents to graduate students; and

• Julien Reneau Wedeen ’14, co-director of Hack Yale — the Hack Yale program, which provides student-run lectures in Web development, introductory programming, and design.

Yale currently offers more than 50 free online courses through Open Yale Courses and Coursera, and the number continues to grow. In his inaugural address, President Peter Salovey said, “As new technologies and opportunities stimulate pedagogical change, we can use them to advance our mission. By continuing to harness technology, we can amplify the words of Yale’s great teachers so that our lectures and lessons can enlighten and inspire more people in more places.”