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Navigating the world of online learning

Roshni Nair helps you navigate the world of online learning. This week’s lesson—brain-teasing history courses!

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Course: A History of Royal Food and Feasting
Platform: Future Learn (futurelearn.com)
By: University of Reading
Starts: June 20
Price: Free
Duration: Five weeks


“Did you know that Henry VIII ordered the first apricot trees to be planted in England because he couldn’t get enough of them? Or that chocolate was first introduced to England by Charles II to compete with the French court?”
June 20 is a long way off, but with a course introduction like that, why pass up a delicious opportunity to kick-start this list with food history?
Though limited to English royalty, A History of Royal Food and Feasting promises to offer more than titbits on the culinary favourites of Henry VIII, Queen Victoria, Elizabeth I, George I and George III. 
The course will not only include royal recipes ranging from Tudor pies to prison food (!), but also examine era-specific diets, discuss how royal cuisines shaped the way we eat today and challenge misconceptions about the way monarchs ate (something tells us this is about Henry VIII).
Considering that is an atypical history course, we recommend that you mark your calendars stat.

Course: Plagues, Witches, and War: The Worlds of Historical Fiction
Platform: Coursera (coursera.org)
Institution: University of Virginia
Starts: Self-paced
Price: $29 (with certificate)
Duration: 12 weeks


If you are fascinated with literature and history in equal measure, Plagues, Witches, and War: The Worlds of Historical Fiction is for you. As its name suggests, the course delves into fictional plots set in historical times. 
Seminars will be conducted by genre-championing authors: Pulitzer Prize-winner Geraldine Brooks, Yangsze Choo, Katherine Howe and Mary Beth Keane. Topics include the Great Plague of London, Typhoid Mary, witchcraft and Malaysian spirit marriages.
One wishes they taught such history and literature in schools.


Course: China (Part 1): Political and Intellectual Foundations: From the Sage Kings to Confucius and the Legalists
Platform: edX (edx.org)
Institution: Harvard University
Starts: May 1
Price: Free; certificate for $90
Duration: 6 weeks


The first in a mammoth 10-part China series (ChinaX) by Harvard University, Political and Intellectual Foundations... examines Chinese history within cultural and political contexts, with emphasis on Confucius, Lao Tzu and the philosophy of Legalism.
Module materials include videos, readings, discussion forums, interactive sessions and assignments. Political and Intellectual Foundations... is followed by courses on the Chinese empire, aristocracy, literati and the Ming dynasty. Parts 6-10 cover the end of Chinese imperialism, the rise of communism and the country’s place in a 21st century world.
Utterly exhaustive at 52 modules in total, ChinaX by Harvard is a steal even for the $90 certificate. Highly recommended.


Course: How to Stage a Revolution
Platform: MIT OpenCourseWare (ocw.mit.edu)
Institution: MIT
Starts: Self-paced
Price: Free


MIT, the mother lode of free online courses, wraps up the history list with this offering on revolutions from the 18th century to today. Starting with the American and French revolutions and uprisings against colonialism to the 2011 Tahrir Square protests, How to Stage a Revolution is a crash course on the psychology of mutiny. It also explores how the definition of ‘revolution’ has evolved with time and the changing geopolitical climate. Of special mention is the unit on François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture or ‘Black Napoleon’, the leader of the 18th century Haitian Revolution.
How to Stage a Revolution comprises 27 modules and four assignments. Reading materials can be downloaded from the course homepage.

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