Interesting online courses

During the 5 weeks of strict lockdown, I did not complete a dozen self-enriching and horizon-expanding online courses. I did sign up for Science and Cooking (chemistry) on EdX that I had been wanting to do for many years. I worked through the archived course and finished it recently.

My dad is bored and unmotivated. He is in Jo'burg with not much to do. I suggested doing an online course. He says that he doesn't want to spend "all day looking at a screen". *sigh* 

Online courses need 3-4 hours of your time A WEEK. 

He also listed a bunch of topics that he had considered. All of them were hard work, hard focus topics (and a bit dull if you ask me) - especially if you've been out hard learning for decades. 

I told him that I would find him some fun and rewarding courses.

I took a quick look through EdX - like 10 minutes - and found these gems that I sent to him and I am copying here for you to enjoy too.

Archived courses you can do in your own time. All the content is there. Some aspects - like assignments and results - may be deactivated. It seems like some courses are active all the time. Courses that run real time will release content each week and have things like discussion forums and request assignment submissions. Even with these, you can do as much or as little as you wish.

Jazz: the Music, the Stories, The players (archived course)

https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:HamiltonX+Music160x+3T2016/course/

 

Star Trek: Inspiring Culture and Technology (enroll at any time - three series to this course)

Explore the impact and influence of Star Trek on today's society and technology.

https://www.edx.org/course/star-trek-inspiring-culture-and-technology

 

Tangible Things: Discovering History Through Artworks, Artifacts, Scientific Specimens, and the Stuff Around You (enroll at any time)

Gain an understanding of history, museum studies, and curation by looking at, organizing, and interpreting art, artifacts, scientific curiosities, and the stuff of everyday life.

https://www.edx.org/course/tangible-things-discovering-history-through-artwor

 

Drawing Nature, Science and Culture: Natural History Illustration 101 (starts Wed, 29 July 2020)

Learn how to see and draw nature like an illustrator. Build observational and visual interpretation skills in an interactive and enjoyable way.

https://www.edx.org/course/drawing-nature-science-and-culture-natural-history

 

Sharks! (started 19 July 2020 - you can catch up)

Learn about the most fascinating animals on Earth, their sophisticated senses and how sharks and their relatives have impacted human history and culture.

https://www.edx.org/course/sharks-global-biodiversity-biology-and-conservatio

I'm going to give the Drawing Nature course a go as it has been an interest for many years. My mom and also my friend Karen are in too. I've twisted my dad's arm and it looks like he is in. If you'd like to try this one, let me know. It can be fun to have a group of people enjoying a course like this together.