Suggestions For Good Biology Video and Video Courses?
February 2, 2015 6:40 PM Subscribe
I have been trying to learn biology from the ground up; using online courses that MIT has. The thing is, I'm just not getting into them. I realized the other day that I've become accustomed to a certain pacing of modern videos. Any suggestions for more engaging content?
I can watch lynda.com videos until the cows come home, and absorb most of what is there. I also watch many wonderful youtube videos that range on casual knowledge of sciences to very specific, but they mostly seem to be chemistry and physics. I'm hoping I'm just missing the good biology ones and not that there aren't any.
My hope is to be able to learn the equivalent of a degree. There is no time frame; it could take me 5 years, 10 years. It's just something I want to do. I have a lot of casual knowledge of biology, but the last class I had was an intro class and it was 20 years ago, and since then a whole new kingdom has been discovered and the study of genetics is completely new.
I have tried the open courseware MIT classes, and I just cannot get into them. I've got campbells biology 8th edition, and am having a miserable time staying focused reading that. I've tried taking notes to increase engagement and even that only helps so much. I think my brain wants to have internet sized bits and edits, and things that drag on make it too easy to tune out.
One thing that might be complicating matters is that I have a varied knowledge base of biological concepts. I read a lot of academic papers on areas of study I am interested in, so I have some very specific knowledge. But this is also where I tend to realize my shortcomings, because I'll hit a concept that I just do not know anything about, and have to learn it or just recognize I'm not going to understand that passage.
I can watch lynda.com videos until the cows come home, and absorb most of what is there. I also watch many wonderful youtube videos that range on casual knowledge of sciences to very specific, but they mostly seem to be chemistry and physics. I'm hoping I'm just missing the good biology ones and not that there aren't any.
My hope is to be able to learn the equivalent of a degree. There is no time frame; it could take me 5 years, 10 years. It's just something I want to do. I have a lot of casual knowledge of biology, but the last class I had was an intro class and it was 20 years ago, and since then a whole new kingdom has been discovered and the study of genetics is completely new.
I have tried the open courseware MIT classes, and I just cannot get into them. I've got campbells biology 8th edition, and am having a miserable time staying focused reading that. I've tried taking notes to increase engagement and even that only helps so much. I think my brain wants to have internet sized bits and edits, and things that drag on make it too easy to tune out.
One thing that might be complicating matters is that I have a varied knowledge base of biological concepts. I read a lot of academic papers on areas of study I am interested in, so I have some very specific knowledge. But this is also where I tend to realize my shortcomings, because I'll hit a concept that I just do not know anything about, and have to learn it or just recognize I'm not going to understand that passage.
Biologist here (Master's level), who has had experience teaching and did laboratory work for almost a decade.
I checked out the EdX 'Introduction to Biology - the Secret of Life' as it was offered by a well-known leader in genomics, Eric Lander (MIT). I enrolled last fall mainly to get a flavor for what it had to offer, as well as to experience what it would be like to take a MOOC.
While there were a number of interesting asides, I found it difficult to follow. Perhaps it was because I am already very familiar with the material, or just the format, but nonetheless EdX has a lot of variety in types and sorts of biology courses that you may find of interest / useful. I think I know what you mean by 'cannot get into them' - I have the greatest respect for the instructor, but listening to a video that I can hit 'pause' and not have a lot of investment in (i.e. no money out of pocket nor time spent in physically going to a class) tends to cheapen my commitment to it.
Since you asked specifically for online courses in bits and pieces, perhaps just taking a timer and going for only short 10-minute intervals? (That is, just hit 'pause'?) How about enlisting another like-minded, local biology student to enroll in the same class? (That may be too difficult to pull off, but you never know.)
I don't know whether you have a community college class to get some of the introductory material out of the way - that may give you the needed focus/engagement in order for you to learn what you need to learn to fill-in the missing background. Good luck!
posted by scooterdog at 7:41 PM on February 2, 2015
I checked out the EdX 'Introduction to Biology - the Secret of Life' as it was offered by a well-known leader in genomics, Eric Lander (MIT). I enrolled last fall mainly to get a flavor for what it had to offer, as well as to experience what it would be like to take a MOOC.
While there were a number of interesting asides, I found it difficult to follow. Perhaps it was because I am already very familiar with the material, or just the format, but nonetheless EdX has a lot of variety in types and sorts of biology courses that you may find of interest / useful. I think I know what you mean by 'cannot get into them' - I have the greatest respect for the instructor, but listening to a video that I can hit 'pause' and not have a lot of investment in (i.e. no money out of pocket nor time spent in physically going to a class) tends to cheapen my commitment to it.
Since you asked specifically for online courses in bits and pieces, perhaps just taking a timer and going for only short 10-minute intervals? (That is, just hit 'pause'?) How about enlisting another like-minded, local biology student to enroll in the same class? (That may be too difficult to pull off, but you never know.)
I don't know whether you have a community college class to get some of the introductory material out of the way - that may give you the needed focus/engagement in order for you to learn what you need to learn to fill-in the missing background. Good luck!
posted by scooterdog at 7:41 PM on February 2, 2015
I highly recommend Crash Course Biology.
posted by guster4lovers at 8:06 PM on February 2, 2015
posted by guster4lovers at 8:06 PM on February 2, 2015
I thought I linked that. Here is the link to Crash Course Biology.
posted by guster4lovers at 8:32 PM on February 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by guster4lovers at 8:32 PM on February 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
Rob Lue of Harvard is the narrator and co-creator of the Inner Life of the Cell videos, which are pretty great intros to basic cell biology. Rob is also one of the co-authors of Biology: How Life Works which we find to be a much more readable, usable text than Campbell for many students.
If that sounds interesting, you may be able to find a way to access their accompanying website, LaunchPad, which has lots of videos and activities you might find useful to go along with the book (the only links I have for that require enrollment in a course using the book, but I imagine it may be possible to purchase access without course enrollment).
posted by hydropsyche at 1:42 PM on February 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
If that sounds interesting, you may be able to find a way to access their accompanying website, LaunchPad, which has lots of videos and activities you might find useful to go along with the book (the only links I have for that require enrollment in a course using the book, but I imagine it may be possible to purchase access without course enrollment).
posted by hydropsyche at 1:42 PM on February 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by hummingbird at 6:50 PM on February 2, 2015 [1 favorite]