My course has a facebook group!! YAY! So exciting!! I'm connecting with people all over the world! The coolest part is seeing how other countries teach evolution. All of you from the United States know that it's taught VERY carefully in public schools as to not offend anyone. It's Creationism VS Evolution. Many people are complaining that they didn't sign up for a religions class. I explained to them why for so many in the United States Evolution and Creationism go hand in hand. It's impossible to discuss one without the other.

I have to admit that prior to this first week of lectures I felt the same way. How can I believe in Evolution when it completely contradicts my faith? But you know what? It doesn't really. You can believe in both Evolution and God. I wish more people in the United States would stop getting their panties in a bunch about things like this.

I wish that Evolution had been taught like this in high school!

Coursera.org Part 2

Well, I've finished my first week of class, and I have to say I'm very impressed with the set up. This is my professor, Mohamed Noor, http://fds.duke.edu/db/aas/Biology/noor

So, some of my fears before starting this course were:
1. That I would be totally lost and not have a CLUE what was being taught
2. That the course would be based on atheism (that they would try to disprove the existence of God by proving evolution)
3. That I wouldn't have time to listen to the lectures and complete the quizzes each week

What I've found is that:
1. I'm not lost, everything that has been taught so far is building upon basic high school biology, or was previously addressed in my high school biology classes.
2. The teacher is neither trying to prove or disprove the existence of God. He even brought up examples of biologists who have a strong faith in a religion and explains of biologists who are atheists. Professor Noor stated that the proof of evolution itself neither proves or disproves the existence of God. I've also decided (as prior to this I was unsure) that I believe 100% that the theory of Evolution should be taught in ALL public schools. As well, the theory of evolution does NOT explain HOW or WHY life arose. It also doesn't state that humans evolved from chimpanzees, but that all things alive today evolved from a common ancestor. This doesn't directly disregard Creationism.
3. So far I have had enough time. This may change week to week depending on what we have going on. This week was particularly difficult as we had appointments on two afternoons AND a three day weekend. This next week may also be difficult as all day tomorrow (Monday, we have appointments) and again on Wednesday afternoon we have another appointment.

I'm very excited to see where coursera takes me. I doubt that any of the courses I plan to take will ever be useful in my life as far as employment, but they satisfy my love of learning without the added cost of taking random courses at a local college.

I'm sure that many people will find courses through coursera.org that WILL benefit their employ-ability making them more desirable to potential employees. My husband has found several offered courses that offer certificates that he could use for potential employment.

For me, this is just a way for me to have ME time; something MANY moms neglect. I can't always afford a night out with my girl friends, I can't always afford to go to the salon, or other activities to relax. And to be honest, 95% of the time I'd probably prefer to learn something new.

Keep an eye out for part 3 after mid-terms (around November 19th or so)

Why Adam and Eve are universal

Where do we fit the story, or even the concept, of Adam and Eve into the modern evolution theory or education in general, both at the elementary level and through to college? Wow, that's a loaded question. But it's easy to answer: Adam and Eve as a concept, the first two humans on Earth who fostered the children that would populate their world, is a universal idea that can transcend context.