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.