The Big Bang

I'm not a fan of the widespread use of distance learning, in which college students take courses by computer. Both common sense and the evidence so far suggests that the results are inferior to classroom learning. However, the fact that several companies are trying to take advantage of the potential financial windfall that distance learning could bring has created a window of opportunity for those of us who don't care about getting a degree but would like to take free college courses. There are dozens of MOOCs (massive open online courses) available on the internet. I've completed four of them so far, including the two-part History of Rock taught by John Covach of the University of Rochester.

Starting March 13, Coursera will be offering Music's Big Bang: The Genesis of Rock 'n' Roll taught by David Carlson of the University of Florida. The 8-week course is about how blues, jazz, gospel and other genres came together around 1955 to create rock and roll. It appears to be the pre-history of rock. The course ends in 1960. The syllabus suggests that it should be of interest to both blues and jazz fans. The nice things about these courses is that you can do as much or as little as you want with no cost or obligation. You can watch the lectures, do the readings, take the quizzes, write the papers, etc., or if you don't care about the credit, you can just watch the lectures and quietly drop out at the end.

In this case, the readings are mostly books I've read before. I'm going to check out the lectures.