It is common for patients at the Moody Neurorehabilitation Institute to have suffered their injuries while attending college. Understandably, it’s just as common for those patients to have chief among their goals a return to that endeavor. It is always a good idea to test out the skills likely to be drawn upon prior to embarking on any such return, as there may be new needs or difficulties encountered that were not initially anticipated. There are a number of good websites that allow anyone to take classes for free from participating college professors in a format known as Massive Online Open Courses (MOOC). Some of the better known MOOC platforms are Coursera, Udacity and edX. Generally the classes are presented as brief video clips paired with quizzes or tests and in many cases will include assignments. For the most part these classes tend to last from four to twelve weeks and can require a commitment of four to twelve hours per week to complete, even for students without injuries. One of my favorite MOOCs for brain injury survivors to use when they first attempt to re-acclimate themselves to the demands of a school environment is Open2Study. The Open2Study courses are given by professors primarily from Australia and New Zealand. An advantage of Open2Study is that the courses each last just four weeks and require only two to four hours’ commitment per class per week. There is a one question quiz after each brief video and a ten question test at the end of each week’s module. If the student successfully completes a course, he or she is given a Certificate of Achievement. The reason I prefer Open2Study is that it is a far shorter and less intense MOOC than others. Therefore, it makes for an easier first step back into a college setting with less likelihood of overwhelming the brain injury survivor. It is a good forum for returning students to assess their needs post-injury in a relatively less demanding environment without the same level of stress often still furnished by other MOOCs, but it does still provide that opportunity to experience lectures from real college professors. Below is a link to the Open2Study website:
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