I have had a relatively quiet time at the moment in terms of tutoring duties so I decided to take a MOOC on Language and culture
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/intercultural-studies-language-culture/6/todo/72483As someone with a Masters in a related area and also being the tutor on L161, I was not expecting to be particularly challenged in terms of the content but I thought there might be some new perspectives.
Despite realistic expectations, I was rather disappointed by the course. Many of the tasks were rather vague. Course participants often posted interesting examples and ideas but there was no interaction with the course writer who might have been able to clarify exactly what she was expecting from the discussion. I think this is quite a serious weakness.
There was a final test that did not seem to be well thought out. It had multiple choice questions and I am convinced that some of the answers that were not accepted could be argued for but there is no chance of dialogue on those.
Some of the content seemed very out of date. For example, there was a document on the Welsh language that seemed to make some dubious assertions and the references were all quite old.
One of the learners also made the good point that sign language should have been considered. This is an issue I have become particularly aware of in the past year as one of my students has been working with deaf students and there is a great deal of variation in language practices and cultures.
Perhaps the content of L161 has spoiled me but I was disappointed by the MOOC. Anyone wanting to study this area would be better off studying with the OU.