The Eternal Pull of Learning

I have a secret, friends. I love learning. And more than that, I love school. Oh, sure, back in the day I loved my summers of freedom (though for several summers in high school my friends and I had a “Shakespearean Acting Troupe” which always started off as a real attempt to put on a Shakespearean play–roles assigned, scripts purchased, rehearsals mounted–but invariably ended as an excuse to make our parents let us hang out three times a week all summer), but there was also always something enticing about heading back in, with new classes and new subjects.

College was a little different–more like the fun of learning had been drained out of it. When I look back at college, there were some classes that I remember, but more I remember what I did outside of class–crew, and more Shakespeare, and hijinks and camping trips and…

Don’t even get me started on graduate school. Yikes. I lasted two quarters. (Also, our orbital mechanics professor did not appreciate our final project being about Marvin the Martian landing on Rama. No imagination, sigh. Apparently that was “not professional” for “real aerospace engineers.”)

But part of me has always missed school. The anticipation of learning something new, especially without the constant press of learning something because your future directly depends on it that you get in college (or, at least, engineering college).

So when a friend told me about Coursera, I got really excited. Coursera offers free college courses from around the world in a variety of subjects. You can do as much work for the class as you want, or work toward a certificate (which I believe does cost some money) and do all of it.

But here is a way for me to go to school again, to learn things I want to learn. My second Coursera course started yesterday–it’s a Vanderbilt University course called Online Games: Literature, New Media, and Narrative. We’re reading the Lord of the Rings and playing Lord of the Rings Online. I imagine at some point there were be comparisons and looking at story across media platforms, but for right now I’m helping Strider and some hobbits and trying to figure out how not to run into walls. 

If you used to love school too, back when you were younger, I suggest you check Coursera out. There’s a little something of everything on there. And it’s a good way to give in to the pull to learn something new and have some fun at the same time.