17.07.19
alright let’s do this. date in the not american fashion because even though i’m canadian and we just follow america wherever they go, i’m in singapore and i want to assimilate.
today, i just ripped through a couple videos in smithsonian’s objects that define america, in particular the section on liberties and freedoms. my overall impression of the course so far is that since i’m not particularly knowledgeable about american history, i’m not sure how well these object-specific history lessons will stick. it appears that these objects are generally considered “iconic” in american history but again, as i’m not very well informed nor do i delve much deeper into the events mentioned than presented in the course, the relevance of these objects to the modern day american psyche is somewhat lost on me. i’m also leery on taking the presenter’s words as the ultimate opinion to follow, because there’s quite an emphasis on patriotism that i feel might cause the course to gloss over contemporary issues these objects may present.
as the deadline is approaching soon, i’m not taking the time to do the quizzes at the end of each section, which do in fact solidify my understanding, so i feel like i’m just taking this course right now for completion’s sake and for some potential trivia that might stick.
also, the course is advertised as 1-2 hours a week.. man maybe i’m wrong but it feels extremely video heavy. every week has 3 sections with around 3 videos each, each video averaging 6-7 minutes. if you were to actually do the quizzes, they’re in a program that pushes the spaced repetition learning method which is also quite time consuming.
actually laying all this out, i guess it really is around 1-2 hours.. but man it feels so much longer. i’m guessing this excludes the extra content they provide too, to give more background.