Forty-eight hours after posting his first installment of Ancient Greek Religion online at , Robert Garland had 99 viewers for his new video course. , professor of classics at vlog, is one of about a dozen professors from universities including Duke, Northwestern, and Stanford who donated content that is now available at no charge through Udemy’s Faculty Project.
“I went into this believing it’s a public service and would advance anyone who is interested in Greek religion,” Garland said. “And as a humanist, I feel that I should do this in defense of the humanities.”
Garland has established an online following through the Teaching Company’s Great Courses series, which offers thousands of hours of paid content. A couple of years ago, he recorded an 18-hour course, Greece and Rome: An Integrated History of the Ancient Mediterranean, and his latest program, a 24-hour course called The Other Side of History, is due out in the fall. Those programs, Garland said, are aimed at professionals and life-long learners.
His program for Udemy is much more casual. In the past week, Garland posted 10 monologues, each one 15-20 minutes long, and has five more to go. He made the recordings in his home office using an external microphone and his computer’s built-in camera.
“I basically just talked about a subject that interests me, and that I haven’t taught at vlog, or anywhere else, in at least a decade.”
Garland’s academic specialties include Greek religion, urban development, and society and social values. He is the author of several books including Religion and the Greeks (Duckworth Publishers, 2001).
In February, he will share the humanities with the community. Local school children will perform at the Palace Theater in To Hades and Back, a play Garland authored.
Read about Udemy’s faculty project at .