(IMAESCII516) Weekly Forum Reflection 3: Why it is taking time for Humanities and Social Modules to be offered in MOOCs?

The domains of humanities and social sciences promote discourse and dialogue, something that cannot be simply captured by multiple-choice type of assessments. These disciplines consider different vantage points of facilitators and learners, in order not to prove what is right, but to determine the theories formed before remain relevant today. 

Moreover, these disciplines are expected to promote interdisciplinary scholarship in both teaching and learning. One needs to look at the context, location and circumstances that inspired an artwork or a historical event. Academics continuously problematizes the issue of bias and unavoidably side for a specific school(s) of thought they have been trained for or chose to side with.

Lastly, artificial intelligence and big data whose algorithms are being enhanced to decipher one's thoughts or emotions, cannot replace the emotive, yet multi-perspective thinking and analysis valued in the humanities and social sciences. Humans still are at the heart of these disciplines.

I like this representation of how the discipline of humanities and social sciences could elicit diversity of thoughts and perspectives. Can computers capture them remains to be seen. Taken at Glasgow Botanic Gardens, Sept 2020. 

(Photo by McRhon)