To Know Coursera is to Love Coursera

Earlier this year I wrote about Tampa's Free Skool, which is part of a brilliant yet mostly unorganized movement of free education going on around the United States. 

Near the end of that post, I linked to a Cousera course that I had stumbled across, intending to take it. But I didn't have the time since I was working full-time & taking part-time grad classes at USF's College of Public Health. 

I was extremely lucky that my esteemed employer at that time, Tampa General Hospital, paid my tuition because otherwise I would not have been able to afford to go back to school. I wish that encouraging your employees to have more education was the norm
these days, unfortunately, I think those kinds of excellent employer benefits are becoming more of the exception. 

That's where Coursera comes in. It offers free online courses from America's top schools. Co-founder Daphne Koller said during her TED Talk that the purpose of her organization is to provide “The best courses from the best instructors at the best universities and provide it to everyone around the world for free.” 

After some struggle, I found that public health wasn't the best fit for me, and as my frequent readers know, I instead went after the program that was. Three weeks ago I started my master's in film & video at American University in Washington, DC. 

I've already learned that my decision to come to AU is one of the best things I have done or will ever do for myself, though it comes with a very hefty price tag, via federal student loans. 

In the months before I left Tampa, I was antsy and bored and wanted to prep my brain for school, so I finally enrolled in a Coursera class. It was Internet History, Technology, and Security, taught by the University of Michigan's Charles Severance, but known to his students as Dr. Chuck. 

Coincidentally Dr. Chuck was in DC the week after I moved here and I got to meet him, as well as some of my DC-based Coursera classmates, at his "office hours" in a cafe downtown.

IHTS is definitely more of a history class than a tech class, but since my knowledge on both the internet & tech world is limited, I figured it was a good starting place. And not a moment too soon - I can't be a multimedia maven while not knowing all I can about the internet and where it came from. Without that knowledge, how can I possibly become one of the people who figures out where it might be headed?

Coursera's IHTS might be the cheapest class I've taken all year, but it's possibly the most priceless.

Human Rights in Our Own Backyard

I often rave about the great stuff going on at Eckerd College. But last weekend after all my years here (seven to be exact), I finally found my way to the University of Tampa. 

I caught the tale end of Human Rights Day, which featured UT instructors Chioke I'anson (also a Free Skooler, fellow WMNF'er & friend), and Drs. Bruce Friesen & Marcus Arvan.

Dr. Friesen covered the Kony 2012 video drama, highlighting its major problems. He ultimately, however, gave credit to the process, saying “as long as we get students exposed," he could get behind the work. 

Dr. Arvan disagreed. "We’re making our judgements from afar. It’s the people on the ground that know the needs.” 

Citing a lack of accountability and white savior complex of the organization behind the Kony video, Adjunct Prof I'anson, who has spent several summers in Uganda, argued that “Everything about Invisible Children is bad,”  

Last month he sat on an NYU panel with the IC and said they avoided answering all of his questions. He added, "Their videos do not transcend race but plays up racist predisposition." 

One solution I'anson offered was alternative narratives, that is, letting the Ugandans speak for themselves. 

UT senior Jasmine Eggestein, majoring in criminology, specifically human trafficking & cyber security, and junior Shelly Santos, a criminology major focusing on child protection attended the day's events. 

Giselle Rodriguez of the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking spoke earlier in the day about child exploitation. 

During Friesen's Kony 2012 discussion, she said “A lot of what they talked about has happened here in the US," in terms of gang initiations and other forms of violence and exploitation. 

Friesen added that human rights definitely starts at home. 

An Education

Smile class!

Happy Open Education Week!

There’s a lot going down now with Florida public schools, cuts to higher learning, and tons of people with expensive degrees without decent job prospects to pay off that student debt. 

My friend and fellow Tampan Mary McKenzie, affectionately known as Mary Mac, told me recently, “It’s incredibly exploitative to the students who buy, literally, into it.”

It would seem that education in America is not very cost effective, with the only reward being, you know, getting to learn stuff and use it for the betterment of society. 


Mary, 28, is a smart & highly educated cookie. She earned a B.S. from UF in natural resource conservation. (Her idea of a fun internship was writing entries for 300 plant species in the Tampa Bay Watershed.) But she’s “not a fan of the system we have in place.”

Excited by Skool

So last summer when she heard about the St. Pete Free Skool, which offers free classes led by volunteer teachers, she decided Tampa needed one too. Tampa Free Skool and its busy class calendar was off and running.


“I place a lot of value on sharing knowledge. I’ll teach this ethnobotany class then maybe the 18 students will want to teach a class. And I’ll learn.” Anyone can take or teach a class. 


Another class Mary leads is the monthly hula hoop jam. Other upcoming offerings are Bread Making 101, Geocaching, a Sci-Fi literature class (From Frankenstein to The Hunger Games) and more. 

Art Skool

“In some classes three people will show up. Others, upwards of 30.” The Tampa Free Skool founders, about 18-ish people, are still trying to figure out what attracts a large turnout. The subject matter? The day of the week? But there's no doubt it's growing. 


Philip, 35, is a part of that original core group. He said he values the idea behind the free skool concept because it has a lot to do with building community. 


“Skill sharing is fun. I like acquiring new points of view and adding that binds me closer to the community.” 


“It’s really exciting to see friends so excited about their knowledge,” said Mary. “Cool to see your friends stepping up and being that source of knowledge you weren’t aware of.” 


Tampa Free Skool can also be found on Facebook and Twitter. 


Other free courses: 


The Tampa Bay Association of Black Journalists is offering a multimedia training session at the Tampa Bay Times building in St. Pete on Saturday, March 10th at 11 a.m. 


Stanford and MIT offer some their classes free online. 


And as always, your public library is an excellent source for introductory computer classes, book discussions, foreign language lessons, etc. (You could say it's the original Free Skool.)

Hard Work, Fair Pay

It's easy to get overwhelmed by all the stuff there is to care about, in the world & locally. So why the heck should I give a hoot about something as small as a tomato?!


Because according to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW),  slavery in America didn't really end with the advent of Juneteenth and the 13th Amendment. They have been fighting a battle for fair wages with Publix, our fancy Florida supermarket chain, for years with no avail.


The CIW has had some other major successes though, with fast food chains and most recently Trader Joe's. 


While there has been some great reporting done locally and on the national level, there's nothing better than learning about an issue first hand. 


You can do that tomorrow when the Tampa Free Skool hosts a guest speaker from the CIW. From the Free Skool folks: 

This workshop shall cover the basics of the CIW's work with emphasis on the actions they have done and where the Campaign for Fair Food is now, specifically focusing on Publix. This workshop offers the opportunity for the community to get involved with a group making real concrete change for hard-working folks!

The workshop will be held at the Jimmie B Keel Regional Library on Saturday 3/3 from 1 p.m. - 2 p.m.