Real Life University

I've been fantasizing about the concept Real Life University for a while now. Having first found it on Ben Casnocha's blog, I experimented with it this summer.

Here's the premise: Pretend that you are going to design your ideal syllabus for a semester. There are no requirements: You can take whatever classes you want and however many classes you want — or don’t want — to take.

In other words, pretend you are in charge of what you want to learn, how you want to learn it and whom you want to learn it with. What would this personalized syllabus consist of? What would your ideal day look like? Your ideal month?

If I had the opportunity, I wouldn't take any formal classes at this stage of the game. There are too many people I want to get to know, too many books I want to read and too many pieces I want to write. I thought hard about not taking any courses this past semester, but I eventually settled on a compromise: I'm only taking 9 credits, leaving me plenty of time to focus on my main projects.

Next semester is a different story. There are some timely projects which may encourage me to make RLU a reality. I have some time to decide.

I've had a ton of fun designing my own personalized syllabus for a whole semester. But it's also been difficult. It'll be easier for me to break it down to smaller chunks, experiment, and then iterate. Below is my syllabus for this week, broken down into things to read/write, "epic" experiences, and work / must do's:

To Read: 1) Finish Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman and 2) The Upheavals of Thought by Martha Nussbaum.

To Write: 1) My next column and 2) Start my Economics of Philosophy final paper

Epic: 1) Michigal Political Union debate over free speech and its effects on education. 2) Producing an EP with my band Chaser. 3) Making dinner with Cassie on Saturday night.

Work / Must Do's: 1) Extreme Weather Exam 2) 1000 Pitches Summitt Planning: need to monitor teams, send emails to speakers 3) Research opportunities for next year.

Q's to think about throughout the week:

-- Is this Real Life University for a semester feasible? What are the pros and cons? what would I want to learn? who would I want to learn it with? How could I make it interactive, interesting, and empowering?
-- How can we apply behavorial economics to our lives? Where is the field going?
-- What is the relationship between reasons and emotions? Emotions and morality? What role should emotions serve in our lives?
-- Are all types speech on campus helpful to our education as students?

Next week I'll post the next syllabus as well as the results from this week.