Digital Literacies Final Project.pdf Apr. 2014 | Page 7

Methods

In
 order
 to
 have
 a
 closer
 look
 at
 Coursera,
 I
 registered

a
  course,
  Exploring
  Beethoven’s
  Piano
  Sonatas,
  provided
  by

Curtis
 Institute
 of
 Music.
 I
 chose
 this
 course
 for
 this
 project

was
  because
  it
  just
  had
  its
  =irst
  lecture
  when
  I
  was
  looking

for
  a
  course
  to
  take
  and
  observe,
  and
  it
  would
  end
  in
  =ive

weeks.
  Another
  reason
  was
  I,
  personally,
  wanted
  to
  explore

something
  that
  I
  could
  hardly
  be
  exposed
  to
  in
  my
  on-­‐
campus
 life,
 trying
 to
 take
 full
 advantage
 of
 online
 resources.

The
  courses
  opened
  on
  Mar.
  20,
  2014.
  The
  course
  content

had
 been
 posted
 each
 Thursday
 at
 9
 a.m.,
 EST.
 I
 got
 enrolled

a
  week
  after
  the
  start
  date
  and
  completed
  this
  =ive-­‐week

course
 on
 April
 17.

I
  focused
  largely
  on
  the
  settings
  of
  the
  courseware

and
 the
 interactive
 discussions
 on
 the
 course
 forum.
 While
 I

was
  taking
  the
  course,
  I
  took
  notes
  for
  the
  course
  as
  a

participant,
  and
  also
  jotted
  down
  some
  =ield
  notes
  of
  this

online
  music
  course
  community.
  Besides,
  I
  collected
  many

screenshots
  as
  I
  navigated
  the
  courseware,
  watched
  the

lecture
 videos,
 and
 read
 the
 postings
 on
 the
 forum.

Though
  enrolled
  in
  the
  course,
  I
  did
  not
  fully

participate
  in
  this
  community.
  I
  =inished
  watching
  all
  the

lecture
  videos,
  and
  doing
  all
  the
  quizzes,
  but
  I
  did
  not
  post

anything
 on
 the
 course
 forum,
 despite
 some
 votes
 for
 other

students’
  posts
  or
  comments.
  Most
  of
  my
  time
  and
  energy

spent
  in
  this
  community
  was
  for
  collecting
  data.
  I

participated
  in
  this
  course
  as
  a
  student,
  but
  mostly
  I
  did
  it

from
 the
 perspective
 of
 a
 data-­‐driven
 observer.

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