2-10 Can You Try to Learn Too Much?

In this video, we’re going to explore a question that many educators find a little bit uncomfortable. Can you try to learn too much? Ana Belen Sanchez-Prieto, professor of medieval manuscript studies and archive management in Madrid gives interesting insight about this. Ana had her doubts about online education, but when she was given the opportunity to teach a MOOC, she decided to do some exploration to get a better understanding of the online world. Since Ana was going to create an online class, she wanted to try one out herself first.

I took the MOOC, Archaeology’s Little Dirty Secrets And I loved it. It gave me a lot of ideas for my own online class. But I also learned that I had a lot to learn about effective teaching, so I enrolled in another MOOC, Foundations of Teaching for Learning. Then I took the complete specialization. Then I took every education-related MOOC I could find. But then, I began to discover that I could take MOOCs on things I wondered about but have never had the chance to learn, such as computers. Dr Chuck’s classes on the Internet and Python were fantastic eye openers. Then I started taking classes on HTML and other tools for web development. Then I started working my way through math with Khan Academy. I’ll be honest, I got carried away. It caused real stress because I also have my own classes. My social life began vanishing. Finally, I have to face it, I was addicted to MOOCs and what is worse? I often wasn’t really learning because I was focused more on finishing and getting the certificate. In the end I realized that many things can be interesting to learn about, but I had to choose.

A few months after her cold turkey withdrawal from MOOCs, Ana went back to MOOCing but this time she took a more balanced approach. She started sitting in on a MOOC on game design so she can apply gaming techniques to improve her classes. She’s planning to repeat the gaming class again before formally enrolling, so she really learns the material. Ana’s objective now is simply to learn but not to be overwhelmed and in the end Ana’s MOOC, Deciphering secrets:The illuminated Manuscripts of Medieval Europe finally launched. But Ana’s path to balance inner life and her learning be a guide for you. Happy balanced mindshift.