A History of the World since 1300
Jeremy Adelman
This course will examine the ways in which the world has grown more integrated yet more divided over the past 700 years.
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Help with Subtitles
Many of you have noted some errors committed by the contracted transcriber for subtitles. If you would like a copy of the subtitles and want to edit yourself, please go to the link on the left side menu and click "Help with Subtitles." There are complete instructions. Some of you have even begun to translate into Greek, Portuguese, Indonesian...which can also be seen on this link.
Thu 20 Sep 2012 11:05:00 AM PDT
IMPORTANT TIPS ABOUT FORUMS
The Forums have become an active site for the exchange of ideas, information, and solutions to technical problems. They are now overwhelmed. This "common good" that we have created is getting crowded out and I fear many of you will stop turning to it as a resource. I am no longer able to keep up with your conversations and as a result you are loosing my engagement in the course.
We are working with Coursera to find a good archiving system for older threads so you can rifle through earlier discussions with greater ease. But this turns out to be a greater technical hurdle than you might imagine, so I appreciate your patience.
I will also create a "Professor's Forum" with questions or problems that I will post and invite comments and debate focused on issues raised in the lectures. This will allow me to be more visible and engaged.
In the meantime, please read the following recommendations:
1. Read previous threads before starting your own! This has been the main source of the proliferation. And as there are more threads, people have less inclination to scroll through predecessors, and so start a new one -- and the system spins out of control.
2. Read instructions! Many issues are clarified in the "About the Course" and "Weekly Schedule" outlines. Look at them before starting a thread. I may have to start deleting threads if they ask questions that have self-evident, clear open answers. Of course, some threads are very useful, like the concerns many raised about the quizzes, which allowed me to send a clarifying email. We need to allow those threads to have their effect on the improvement of this course. But they can't if they are deluged by those whose answers have been posted permanently on the course page.
3. If you have personal thoughts about the world or random insights (however fascinating), either find an existing thread to post them, or another place on the internet. While I celebrate "voice," and world history over 700 years is certainly broad enough to accomodate a lot of topics, Forums that do not address our themes can drown out the main issues we need to be discussing. Once more, if I find there are threads that are opened and do not address issues we are discussing in this course, I will have to start deleting them unilaterally.
4. Remember, the forums are a learning resource for us all.
Thank you for your understanding as we build this course together.
Thu 20 Sep 2012 5:14:00 AM PDT
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