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About viruses and viral disease

Earth’s virology course

28 May 2013 by Vincent Racaniello

Virology class 2013The spring semester has just ended at Columbia University, which means that my annual virology course has also concluded.

The course met twice weekly, during which time we discussed the basic principles of virology, including how virions are built, how they replicate, and how they cause disease. For the last two lectures of the course we discussed viruses in the public eye, namely XMRV and influenza H5N1.

Each lecture in my virology course was recorded as a videocast and is available at the course website, at iTunes University, or on YouTube. One hundred and eighty-five Columbia University undergraduates registered for the virology course in 2013, but nearly 100,000 individuals have subscribed to the course through iTunes University. I strongly believe that the general public must understand as much as possible about viruses, so they can participate in the debate about issues that impact them, such as vaccination, H7N9, and the new coronavirus CoV-MERS. As I have said before, it is my goal to be Earth’s virology professor, and this is my virology course for the planet.

In August, my Virology course will become the fourth course from Columbia University to be offered as a MOOC (massive open online course) via Coursera. Below is a short video which explains that offering. Click here to register for part I of my Coursera virology course.

Filed Under: Basic virology, Information Tagged With: class, course, itunes university, lecture, MOOC, viral, virology, virus

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Bryant says

    2 June 2013 at 12:11 am

    When will the course start? I do not see it yet on the Coursera website.

  2. Doris says

    2 June 2013 at 1:16 pm

    Very excited for the MOOC! 🙂

  3. Farheen says

    4 June 2013 at 3:09 pm

    Looking forward to this on Coursera.

  4. profvrr says

    4 June 2013 at 3:19 pm

    The Coursera MOOC will begin on 1 July. Registration will open up at coursera.org in a week or two. See you there!

  5. Mary Dewitte says

    5 June 2013 at 1:27 am

    This is great! I’m excited for the MOOC. Thanks for the registration link, Professor. 😀

  6. profvrr says

    5 June 2013 at 4:34 pm

    Registration for the virology course on Coursera is now open. Here is the link: https://www.coursera.org/course/virology

  7. Sam Peri says

    8 June 2013 at 1:44 am

    This is a great course. It’s really convenient that there are MOOC already available today. Thanks for the link.

  8. Farheen says

    8 June 2013 at 9:11 pm

    Just signed up for this course on Coursera. Super excited and looking forward!

  9. JohnHousecat says

    10 June 2013 at 6:37 am

    Signed up for the Coursera course (am a Coursera enthusiast), but am watchin’ the YouTube videos now (and up until the course). Maybe it’ll give me a leg up? LOL! Suggestion: Minimal Peer Assessments (but if you must have them, make them creative please) & a decent amount of quizzes and exams (in-video quizzes are fun too).

  10. JohnHousecat says

    10 June 2013 at 6:37 am

    It says August 1st. ?

  11. profvrr says

    10 June 2013 at 5:02 pm

    Thanks for the suggestions. I will definitely have in-video quizzes as well as standalone quizzes. The people at Coursera have suggested peer assessments but it sounds as though that won’t be so welcome.

  12. Farheen says

    10 June 2013 at 9:06 pm

    Peer assessments are one reason why I drop courses on Coursera. Extremely time consuming and totally pointless. I have completed 3 courses with peer assessment, and I without the peer assessment; and dropped a few with peer assessment. The ones where they don’t have peer assessments, they often have mid term and/ or final exam which is much more appreciated and welcomed.

  13. Julia Yohe says

    12 June 2013 at 1:55 am

    Thanks for the info, Farheen. I am interested but I don’t know what to expect from this course. I hope I’m not yet late to register

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by Vincent Racaniello

Earth’s virology Professor
Questions? virology@virology.ws

With David Tuller and
Gertrud U. Rey

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ME/CFS
Inside a BSL-4
The Wall of Polio
Microbe Art
Interviews With Virologists

Earth’s Virology Course

Virology Live
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Virology 101
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