University of Alberta Launch its First Free Online Course With Dinosaur Paleobiology

University of Alberta Vertebrate Paleontology

Students and dinosaur fans from Edmonton and beyond can expect some Jurassic perks this fall.

The University of Alberta is offering its first massive, open online course, known as a MOOC, and it’s called Dino 101: Dinosaur Paleobiology.

Phil Currie, curator of dinosaurs at the U of A’s Laboratory for Vertebrate Paleontology, will be teaching the online course starting Sept. 4.

By 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, the day registration opened, more than 900 people had signed up.

The 12-lesson online course is open to anyone. Those who want to audit the course won’t have to pay. Tuition for students at the U of A and other universities who want credit for the course will be $263, half the price of a regular U of A course. Those taking it for credit have to complete a mid-term and final exam.

It gives students a comprehensive overview of non-avian dinosaurs that roamed the Earth during the Mesozoic Era, from 250 to 65 million years ago.

It covers topics such as how they lived, what they ate, how they fought, their environmental and behavioural adaptations, origins and extinction.

Lessons will be delivered via interactive modules, including 3-D virtual fossil collections and a “history of time” tool that shows when certain species prowled the Earth. Lessons will also include short videos shot at museums, fossil-preparation labs and dig sites.

Jonathan Schaeffer, dean of U of A’s faculty of science, said the topic was chosen because it showcases Alberta’s paleontology assets and is an area of research the university specializes in.

“(It’s) something that could excite people,” he said. “It appeals to young and old, it appeals to males and females, it crosses country boundaries, cultural boundaries.”

Dustin Chelen, the vice-president academic of the U of A’s students’ union, said online courses provide students with flexibility and ownership over their own learning, but may limit a student’s overall university experience.

“It’s so much more than just sitting in front of a professor … it’s about campus life, the student experience, the museums, the labs. I think that MOOCs have limited opportunities for interaction,” Chelen said. “I think it inhibits some of the social values of a university as well.”

While U of A is not the first Canadian university to offer a MOOC — the University of British Columbia and the University of Toronto are also on board — it is the first to offer one for credit.

“Students are increasingly taking on debt to attend the university, so if there are cheaper options, I suspect that will be an appealing draw for students, particularly students who may not traditionally have access to a rather pricey university education,” Chelen said. “This is a way that they can sample and get credit for a lower cost university course.”

Dino 101 will be taught using a platform called Coursera. According to the education company’s website, the MOOC model has been adopted by universities on four continents. A total of 27 million students are enrolled in courses, from mathematical philosophy to jazz improvisation, at some of the top schools in the world, including Columbia, Yale, Stanford and Johns Hopkins. Schaeffer said U of A has been working on its MOOC for a year. Students can expect it to be “an experience that you could never get anywhere else in the world,” he said.

“We’ve invested a lot of effort filming on location at Dinosaur Provincial Park, the Tyrrell Museum and the bone beds here in Edmonton. We’ve invested a lot of time and effort to develop wonderful interactive elements that people can play with.” (Edmonton Journal)