Review: Sport and Society: 7-week Course from Duke University at Coursera

I have recently completed Sports and Society at Coursera, one of the internet’s largest platforms for MOOCs (massive open online courses).  Written by a professor of anthropology at America’s Duke University, the 7-week introduction to the sociology of sport has been running for four years and is offered free of charge, with the option of buying a certificate of completion at US$50.00. This was not my first foray into online learning - I have completed an MA and CertHE costing several thousands of dollars and years of study - but this was my first opportunity to participate in a free MOOC.

As an educator myself, I understand the demands of creating and running a course.  The writer/professor in question obviously gets a good bit of professional milage out of this course, even if there is no direct financial remuneration.  That is to say, there is an incentive for creators to produce engaging material and to follow through in managing delivery of the course.  On the other hand, creators are likely to have other obligations and cannot justify spending large amounts of time on what is essentially community service. You can see this push and pull at work in this course, which is well designed and written, if only for a general audience, but has been left to run itself.

The lecturer brings a good measure of interest and enthusiasm for his subject.  He obviously enjoys playing, discussing and reading sport of many kind.  He covers some of the more obvious issues in the sociology of modern sport (race, gender, commerce, and fandom, for example) and delivers clearly structured lectures.  He uses a number of sports to illustrate his ideas and provides an interesting selection of readings, from classic sociology texts to contemporary essays.  On the less than positive side, course material is largely US-centric, not entirely surprising given the course was written by an American and the phenomenon of modern sport is in large part an American story.  I had hoped students from different countries might address some of the topics as manifested in their own cultures, but unfortunately my cohort was exceptionally quiet.  The discussion boards were absolutely empty.  As a survey course, the depth of coverage is somewhat shallow and not what the more academically inclined might be used to.  The weekly quizzes consist of 10 multiple-choice items, many trivia-like and answerable by a quick google search.

The effort required to complete the course is minimal: a one hour weekly lecture, and perhaps 30-60 minutes weekly reading, followed by a 3 minute quiz.  Overall I can say the course was useful.  I was exposed to new ideas and to some interesting writing.  An introductory text might provide as good, or even better, coverage, but you’ll have to buy a book.  The Coursera course is free.

Will I sign up for another MOOC?  Perhaps.  But I’d like a course that requires more discussion as part of the completion requirement, and one in which discussion is monitored and guided by a discussion leader, be that the course writer or someone designated to that position (perhaps a grad student working under the course creator).

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