Building your Screenplay—Cambridge University edX—MOOC Classes

This week I completed the online screenwriting class Building your Screenplay offered by Cambridge University. It's part of their Micromasters program in Writing Performance & Entertainment Industries. I took it online without enrolling in the masters program. From what I learned in one of our live lessons, I think you'd have to attend the university in person to finish the offered micromasters, and complete an English exam that could silence some of the diverse and varied online voices.

It's a four week class. It took me four or five hours a week to complete that week's lessons, that's half the recommended time but I write daily and have for years. I've also already completed one version of the screenplay I'm working on so when it came to theme, character, and story, I could summon my take on the assignments instantly. 

Compared to the other MOOC classes I've taken, I found this one easier and spent less time on it. That said, I found it a very valuable class and it gave me a lot to consider in regards to my screenplay. Part One with award-winning film-director Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese and his take on image taking precedence in screenwriting was especially provocative. 

My favorite part of the class was our live ZOOM meeting. There's just nothing like getting together with a group of other writers for inspiration, networking, and simple camaraderie even if it's online. We split into breakout rooms for an assignment. It was both brilliant and surreal to chat writing with screenwriters from Peru, Spain, and Montana. Our discussion topic somehow morphed into movie scores, but I promise it was time well spent and I wouldn't have missed it.

During these online classes, I take notes while I listen to lectures, and I save my assignments to refer back to. I will be referring back to these notes as I continue working on my screenplay. This class is available for free or with edX's verified track. 

Pyramids of Giza: Ancient Egyptian Art & Archaeology—Harvard edX—an incredible online learning opportunity in the time of a pandemic

Feeling restless? Wanderlust? Me too. I found a great way to scratch that itch during this pandemic and next time, someday, when I can go back to Egypt, I'll know a heck of a lot more about what I'm looking at thanks to edX.org. I took a HarvardX online course called Pyramids of Giza: Ancient Egyptian Art and Archaeology. 

There's even a free version, so you have no excuse if Ancient Egypt is your thing. I've never had so much fun taking a class before in my life. It wasn't just the subject matter either—hieroglyphs, Old Kingdom tombs, and pharaohs. The professor was brilliant, engaging and articulate. I enjoyed it so much I tore through an eight week course in half the time. Mind you, I put way more time into it than if I'd moved at the leisurely 2-4 hours a week suggested. 

The Great Pyramids of Egypt on the Giza Plateau are surrounded by tombs. They're underground and unlike the Great Pyramids (Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure), many are decorated with art. The pyramids themselves are named after the kings who built them, from an older kingdom, and are from a more basic plainer time. When I went inside the Great Pyramid I was surprised at the utter lack of decoration, not realizing it was from a time before Ancient Egyptians decorated tombs so extensively.

The underground tombs in the Giza complex were excavated in part by Harvard's own Archaeologist George Reisner. The class goes over the countries and archaeologists involved in the heyday of Egyptology in a truly engaging and informative way. It's easy to follow and retain, and I daresay, it was interesting and fun. 

This is a photo I took with my phone in February of 2018 when I was in Egypt. The pyramids are in Cairo, Egypt but located on what's called the Giza Plateau. From this photo you can see some of a mastaba field (mastabas are above ground tomb portions). I did have the opportunity to go down into a couple of the tombs near the pyramids and it was amazing. The underground tombs are from newer kingdoms and rich with painted walls, hieroglyphs, statuary, and are beautifully artistic. Although I wish I'd taken this class first, it still helped me understand more in retrospect. It was my first trip to Egypt and the sheer magnitude of it overwhelmed me. 

Being the fiction writer in a group of Egyptologists, I focused on taking in as much as I could and simply experiencing it. I climbed inside Khufu (the biggest pyramid), rode a camel around Giza to the Sphinx, and took endless photos of everything. They tried to educate me on the different kingdoms, dynasties, and hieroglyphs, but I really wanted to prowl through the dusty bookshops, sail in a felucca on the Nile, and score a purse with a camel painted on it. Fortunately Harvard edX showed me what I missed. Now, like the rest of the world's stilled travelers, I wait for the someday when I can resume my hands-on learning with renewed appreciation, thanks to this incredible class.