Re: [Proposal] schema:OnlineCourse

Yes, in most UK universities, formally,  a "course" is a collection  of 
"modules" completion of which is necessary to satisfy the requirements 
for some award. (That's not universal though, I work in a University 
which uses program for the collection and course for the smaller units; 
also informally course is often used in the US sense--I don't think 
anyone would misunderstand the C in MOOC).  Importantly, UK Universities 
advertise and recruit into courses not individual modules, so they would 
probably want schema mark up to address this level. If a bit of semantic 
elasticity is allowed, the term course can cover both program and 
module, so long as we allow for courses that have parts that are other 
courses.

Outside of academia, "course" is widely used in the UK in pretty much 
the US sense, e.g. for local council-run adult education[1], commercial 
training courses[2], professional/staff development courses, and so on[3].

Whatever term is used, it will need a careful definition. The common 
terms are all ambiguous, the unambiguous formal terms aren't intuitive.

Phil

1. examples at https://www.joininedinburgh.org/enrol/aep/
2. examples at  http://www.train4publishing.co.uk/courses
3. examples at http://www.theguardian.com/guardian-masterclasses/digital

On 06/03/2015 05:31, Wes Turner wrote:
> I am in support of "Course".
>
> These sites all use the term "course" (in no particular order): EdX, 
> Coursera, Udacity, EduMine, FutureLearn, OpenCourseWare, Class Central.
>
> AFAIU, the en-GB usage of "Course" is roughly equivalent to "Course of 
> Study", "Degree Program", "Major / Minor".
>
> If necessary, a popular vote?
>
> Alternatives to course?
> * en-GB: "Module"
> * "class" - this is less than ideal.
> * "MOOC" does not cover the breadth of the subject mater.
>
>
> On Thu, Mar 5, 2015 at 10:28 AM, Vicki Tardif Holland 
> <vtardif@google.com <mailto:vtardif@google.com>> wrote:
>
>     I agree that another term besides "Course" needs to be considered.
>     (Oddly enough, I attended a university that uses "course" the way
>     other US universities use "major", so I am sympathetic to the
>     issues with the term.)
>
>     Putting aside Course vs Class vs some other term for now, what is
>     the objection to a subclass for online sessions?
>
>     - Vicki
>
>
>     Vicki Tardif Holland | Ontologist |vtardif@google.com
>     <mailto:vtardif@google.com>
>
>     On Wed, Feb 25, 2015 at 12:11 PM, Jim Goodell <jgoodell2@yahoo.com
>     <mailto:jgoodell2@yahoo.com>> wrote:
>
>         I used what seems to be the key points of consensus from
>         comments posted to Vicki’s doc, and the thread, to mark up
>         suggested changes to the proposal.
>
>         https://docs.google.com/document/d/12YWjLzZC8FiTiOwSAETRIEozeqZdn6O8a4fgqK4t5Ss/edit?usp=sharing
>
>         -Jim Goodell
>
>
>



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Received on Friday, 6 March 2015 09:31:56 UTC