As Thammasat University students grow accustomed to online learning and distance education, some may wish to explore overseas opportunities after they have done their required coursework. Taking an extra class may be informative and help complement main areas of study, giving students new ideas and perspectives and help them to practice their English language usage.
One opportunity to consider may be free massive open online courses (MOOCs) at The University of Edinburgh, the United Kingdom.
The University of Edinburgh was founded in the 1500s. It played an important role in leading Edinburgh to its reputation as a chief intellectual centre during the Age of Enlightenment, contributing to the city being nicknamed the Athens of the North.
The Thammasat University Library collection includes many books published by Edinburgh University Press, an internationally renowned academic publisher.
These include Adventures in transcendental materialism: dialogues with contemporary thinkers by Adrian Johnston; Agricultural development in China, 1368-1968 by Dwight H. Perkins with the assistance of Yeh-Chien Wang, Kuo-Ying Wang Hsiao, and Yung-Ming Su; American independent cinema: an introduction by Yannis Tzioumakis; Antigone on the contemporary world stage edited by Erin B. Mee and Helene P. Foley; Atlas of orthopaedic pathology: with clinical and radiologic correlations by Peter G. Bullough and Vincent J. Vigorita; The birth of nomos by Thanos Zartaloudis; Border politics: the limits of sovereign power by Nick Vaughan-Williams; Childhood identities: self and social relationships in the experience of the child by Allison James; Children’s explanations: a psycholinguistic study by Morag L. Donaldson; The Cinema of small nations edited by Mette Hjort and Duncan Petrie; Cinematic journeys: film and movement by Dimitris Eleftheriotis; The consequences of possession edited by Eric Descheemaeker; Contesting markets: analyses of ideology, discourse and practice edited by Roy Dilley; Corpus linguistics and the description of English by Hans Lindquist; Crime and punishment in Britain: an analysis of the penal system in theory, law, and practice by Nigel Walker; A critical analysis of promise in Scots law and Thai law by Korrasut Khopuangklang; The cultural politics of emotion by Sara Ahmed; Cultural studies and the study of popular culture by John Storey; Culture and power in cultural studies: the politics of signification by John Storey; The culture of labourism: the East End between the wars by John Marriott; Culture wars: the media and the British left by James Curran, Ivor Gaber and Julian Petley; Current research on suicide and parasuicide, edited by Stephen Platt and Norman Kreitman; The dark side of Europe: the extreme right today by Geoffrey Harris; Darwin in the archives: papers on Erasmus Darwin & Charles Darwin from Journal of the Society for the Bibliography of Natural History & Archives of Natural History edited by E.C. Nelson and D.M. Porter; Deleuze and cinema : the aesthetics of sensation by Barbara M. Kennedy; Deleuze and the naming of God: post-secularism and the future of immanence by Daniel Colucciello Barber; Democratic biopolitics: popular sovereignty and the power of life by Sergei Prozorov; Diaspora criticism by Sudesh Mishra; Difficult atheism: post-theological thinking in Alain Badiou, Jean-Luc Nancy and Quentin Meillassoux by Christopher Watkin; The Edinburgh companion to Virginia Woolf and the arts edited by Maggie Humm; Essays on Deleuze by Daniel W. Smith; Ethics in public service edited by Richard A. Chapman; The ethics of deconstruction: Derrida and Levinas by Simon Critchley; The ethics of development: from economism to human development by Des Gasper; The Evolution of culture: an interdisciplinary view edited by Robin Dunbar, Chris Knight, and Camilla Power; and Exploring visual culture: definitions, concepts, contexts edited by Matthew Rampley, among others.
Among free MOOCs at the University of Edinburgh of potential interest for TU students is The Truth About Cats and Dogs:
About this Course
What is your cat revealing to you when she purrs? What is your dog expressing when he yawns or wags his tail? Understanding your cat and dog’s behaviour and the way they communicate with you, will enable you to better understand their needs and strengthen your relationship with them.
This MOOC is divided into five topics, the appliance of science; behaviour and body language, senses and perception; challenges for the human-animal relationship, including pet problem behaviour; and how to improve the quality of life for cats and dogs in our care.
At the start of the course we ask you to consider what you feel is important to your cat/dog and what your cat/dog means to you? We explore the world of cats and dogs and how our relationships with them vary around the world and have changed over time. We ask if we can really know what our animals are thinking or trying to communicate through their facial expressions and behaviours.
From our beloved pets to street dogs, shelter dogs/cats and welfare challenges, we explore the world from their perspective and examine how their genetic make-up may influence their behavioural responses and choices. We dispel common behavioural myths by looking through a scientific lens, asking questions about the function and development of their behaviour.. We explore how their senses help them to interact with their world and how they communicate with each other and us!
Finally, we ask whether we impose unrealistic expectations on our cats and dogs and how this affects their ability to live alongside us. We ask, what can we do to be more responsible pet owners and to ensure the welfare of all cats and dogs in society? This MOOC explores different scientifically validated methods that can help you to better understand your pet, to enrich their lives and help you to be a more educated and confident pet owner.
We hope you enjoy the course!
The class instructor will be Miss Hayley Walters, RVN, a veterinary nurse and graduate of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.
Her online biography explains:
She spent 7 years in mixed animal practice in Derbyshire before leaving England in 2006 to work for animal welfare charity ‘Animals Asia’ with Asiatic black bears rescued from the bile farming industry in China. She also ran dog shelter management projects in the three years she was there for dogs misplaced in the Sichuan earthquake of 2008 and dogs rescued from illegal dog meat traders… Hayley also teaches animal welfare, nursing and clinical skills to veterinary students in developing countries for the Jeanne Marchig International Centre for Animal Welfare Education. Her focus is on improving veterinary education through excellence in patient care and also promoting humane alternatives to live animals in veterinary education. Hayley has been involved in many clinical skills workshops in veterinary teaching schools in Asia and Eastern Europe and is in the process of helping two vet schools in Sri Lanka and India set up their first ever veterinary nurse training programme… She has a little dog called Stewart who was rescued from the illegal dog meat trade in Thailand and who Hayley met when she was volunteering at a rescue shelter there in 2013.
Another MOOC of possible usefulness for TU students is Intellectual Humility: Theory:
About this Course
Faced with difficult questions people often tend to dismiss and marginalize dissent. Political and moral disagreements can be incredibly polarizing, and sometimes even dangerous. And whether it’s Christian fundamentalism, Islamic extremism, or militant atheism, religious dialogue remains tinted by arrogance, dogma, and ignorance. The world needs more people who are sensitive to reasons both for and against their beliefs, and are willing to consider the possibility that their political, religious and moral beliefs might be mistaken. The world needs more intellectual humility.
But what is intellectual humility, anyway? And why do people seem so drawn toward intellectual arrogance? Psychologists, philosophers, theologians, and educationalists are now suggesting some answers.
In this course we try to define intellectual humility and intellectual virtues in general, and ask how we know who is humble. All lectures are delivered by leading specialists, and the course is organised around a number of interesting readings and practical assignments which will help you address issues related to humility in your daily life.
Class instructors will be Professor Duncan Pritchard, Professor of Philosophy, at the University of California, Irvine; Assistant Professor Ian Church, who teaches philosophy at Hillsdale College; and Dr. Emma Gordon, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Edinburgh.
The TU Library owns a number of books authored, coauthored, and edited by Professor Pritchard.
(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)