Dr. Noor taught Introduction to Genetics and Evolution in the Coursera platform from October 10 through December 17, and has written a thoughtful and enthusiastic reflection of his experience in his blog.  He discusses the surprises, including how much he loved teaching the class, the enthusiasm of the students and the sense of community.  He says it best, so go read it. He says:

I often felt like I was the owner of an ice cream store giving away free ice cream.   The constant expressions of appreciation for the opportunity to learn this material and of excitement about the material itself in the discussion forums was so stimulating and personally rewarding to me.

How active and interested are his students?  They are commenting on his blog post about teaching the course, some fewer than two hours after it was published.

More on Dr. Noor’s Introduction to Genetics and Evolution course:

• Introduction to Genetics and Evolution, a preliminary report on this blog
• Genetics and Evolution, Day One on this blog
• Meet some Coursera students studying Genetics & Evolution
• Jerry Coyne, Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago  discussed MOOCs on his blog, “Why Evolution is True”, encouraging students to participate to learn.  To judge from the comments, many are.

It’s best to read Dr. Noor’s impressions in his own words: Teaching a MASSIVE online class

Or take the course yourself. It’s starting again on January 4th, 2013.

For more information on Duke’s online courses, click here: http://onlineduke-wpengine-com.onlineduke.wpengine.com/.