A report from an online course on global disruption and information technology

Abstract

"Computing Within Limits" represents a new paradigm in thinking about computing. To help communicate this new perspective to a broader audience, we created, taught, and are continuing to teach a multi-campus online course through the University of California (UC) titled "Global Disruption and Information Technology." This article presents a report on our experiences designing this course and delivering the first two offerings to several hundred UC undergraduates. We discuss the history and motivation for the course; specific details of the course content; the technological platforms used in delivering the course; the student population; and the student experience taking the course. We hope that this paper, detailing our efforts at "teaching LIMITS," will help others interested in offering similar courses take advantage of our experiences and help more students become engaged with this critical set of issues.