Why Free MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) are a Great Way for Writers to Learn

MOOCS don’t have to be scary. Really.

If, like me, at some point or another you’ve thought of enrolling in a massive open online course (MOOC), only to decide against it, the reasons are understandable: too many people and not enough personalized attention; the online format makes it feel impersonal; the lack of accountability outside of a non-physical classroom results in not showing up, not doing the homework, not sticking with it. The New Yorker last fall published a critique of the MOOC model of learning, concluding that the future of this approach, for all the initial buzz around it, was still uncertain. (My thought as I was reading the article was to ask what emergent approach to higher ed isn’t, especially one that’s so dependent on the internet?)

Without venturing into all that, though, I’m here to advocate for MOOCs, especially as a learning tool for busy writers dedicated to improving their craft.

By now the drawbacks of MOOCs are well agreed-upon: yes, they are big. In fact, they are often huge. I enrolled this past spring in Writers Write Poetry course through the University of Iowa; there were thousands of students in my class from all over the world. On the one hand, I loved the cosmopolitanism of studying alongside such a diverse community of fellow readers and writers; on the other hand, overwhelm was a constant. I’d spend an evening writing a poem, post it to the online forum and log onto the course website any given morning to find that my little post had been drowned out by hundreds of other poets as they also shared their homework assignments. Were it not for the site’s notifications settings, I wouldn’t have been able to find the comments people had made on my work. And when I did finally get back to my post, there were disappointingly few comments because there was simply too much homework for everyone to give feedback on, and students had to pick and choose. So a MOOC is not a place to get many and thorough critiques of your work, even as you get the community that so many lone writers need and crave. The other common criticism of MOOCs is their low rates of completion, owing to the fact that most MOOCs are free. With no financial skin in the game, students start out with great intentions and don’t finish, which affects the cohesion of the community the students formed at the course’s beginning, if one can say that it even exists at all.

But having said all that, here’s why I think MOOCs are a terrific learning option for serious writers.

1. Networking. The fact that MOOCs are low-cost and often free, even if it leads to high drop-out rates, means that only the most dedicated and self-directed finish. If you hang on and keep doing the homework and showing up, the phenomenon of the Incredible Shrinking Class can be used to your advantage: to network. One of my biggest regrets from the Iowa poetry course was that I didn’t hang on for long enough to develop relationships with my fellow students in the forums at the very end. No doubt the ones still standing were dead serious about learning, and had busted their heinies over the weeks to get better at their poetry. As a non-MFA student in dire need of peers, I knew that these are the kinds of writers I would want to stay in touch with.
2. Killer free videos and lectures. I haven’t taken MOOCs from other schools and so can’t comment on others beyond Iowa, but the course videos for Writers Write Poetry were reliably superb. Christopher Merrill and Camille Rankine led discussions along with a lineup of teaching assistants who were attentive and responsive in the forums, but I believe their main strength was enlisting established poets to give talks on elements of craft. All were clearly skilled as teachers (Robert Hass, a veteran poet and teacher, was one of them). On days when I felt my motivation drag, I’d pull up YouTube and listen to a lecture while I folded my laundry. Some lectures, like the one by Margaret Reges, inspired me so much that I couldn’t wait to get back to my desk after I was finished.
3. Which leads me to my next point, which is that the beauty of MOOCs is that you’re bestowed, by virtue of its non-compulsory format, the right to participate at a level that suits you. It’s probably blasphemy, but I think that if you’re learning more than you otherwise would, the MOOC is fulfilling at least part of its function. As I said, after a time I quit posting in those forums and simply enjoyed the video lectures. After listening to the lectures, I revisited my writing with those lessons in my head. With the next MOOC I take, I plan on doing it differently, setting a goal to go whole hog with it and miss as little as possible. But the bottom line is that the loose course structure afforded me the flexibility to enjoy the learning process more. I would hope the same for others who approach a MOOC not as something that theyhave to do, but as an experience they can tailor and shape to suit them.
4. For those not part of MFA programs, it’s a kind of equalizer, if an imperfect one. The vision that informed the birth of the MOOC couldn’t possibly be more egalitarian: to make a quality education available to more people, at low or no cost, and so reach populations such as the elderly, people with family responsibilities, and a wide international audience. As the elite among MFA programs, Iowa’s offering of writing MOOCs came as a boon to writers who wouldn’t be able to access their programs otherwise. The model isn’t as effective as it could be, and it doesn’t look like MOOCs are poised to replace traditional learning anytime soon, but it does offer something to the rest of us who can’t get away from our schedules and routines or shell out the money for a conventional writing class. And it does so using the collective knowledge of first-rate teachers who have taken the time to share what they know with as many people as possible.

Christopher Merrill, director of Iowa’s writing MOOC program

I’ve been anything from a model MOOC student in the past, and I’ve started and not finished more free online courses than I’ll admit. But here’s my new strategy and I think it might work: teaming up with a friend and critique partner and taking a writing MOOC together. You can discuss lectures afterwards, give each other detailed comments on your work, and like having a workout buddy, the accountability keeps you going where you would lose momentum and quit. In the end, you get a free learning experience and it’s made more fun by the chance to build relationships and bond over each other’s writing.

The leaves are dropping and I’m not buying any new backpacks and lunch bags like the kids in my neighborhood, but I am going back to school as I enroll in The University of Iowa’s free 2-month long Writers Write Fiction Class for 2015, which starts September 24th. Open to anyone, it’s going to be taught on NovoEd (See a YouTube preview). Listen up fiction penmonkeys, and spread far and wide!

All you need in the end are these things: a friend who’s as nuts about writing as you are, a laptop with a beefy internet connection, and a few dedicated hours each week. Not too shabby for a writing education that’s completely free. 

For more information on the Iowa course and to register, follow this link. And send us a note if you plan on taking the course so that I can connect with you.

Happy autumn.  – Hannah