The University of Oklahoma, Stillwater, has partnered
with the A+E Network’s History Channel on an online course students can take
for credit. The class, The United States, 1865 to Present, is open for registration but will be offered in the spring 2015 semester.
The course combines video lectures with quizzes, group discussions, and social interaction
with Professor Steve Gillon, the scholar-in-residence at the History Channel who is
teaching the course. It costs $500 for students who will take quizzes
and write papers for three hours of transcripted transferable credits available
with the course. There is also a $250 category for lifelong learners who are interested
in the course, but not for a grade or credit.
The course is taught on the Janux platform, an
interactive learning community created by the university. Using the platform,
students collaborate with one another and with instructors in real time. It also
provides an online space for the videos, exams, quizzes, and a free
e-textbook.
“Technology isn’t going to totally transform education,
but we should use technology for the things technology is good at,” Kyle
Harper, the university’s interim senior vice president and provost, told The Chronicle of Higher Education.
“And bringing the sights and sounds of history to life is something that
technology can be really good at.”