http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=388680

 

NINE hundred and fifty three people from across the Pacific from all works of life have signed up for a free online climate change course designed for the region.

 

Starting in four days, the MOOC was initiated by UNESCO Jakarta and was designed as a higher learning initiative for professional organisations.

The online self-paced course has four main modules;  Climate Change Science and the Pacific Islands, Disaster Risk Reduction and Ecosystem Services, Impact of Climate Change and Food Security and Options for Pacific Islands to Mitigate GHG Emissions and Build their Resilience.

The students will have a week to focus on each module learning on their own with aid of two video lectures released early in the week for them to view at their own time.

The MOCC on Climate Change and Pacific Islands was offered once before in 2015 and will this year run from February 13 to March 31.

The MOCC is completely free of charge, offers a certificate upon completion and is open to anyone who can access its registration page on http://mooc.usp.ac.fj.

"Most MOOCs are structured similar to traditional online higher education courses in which students watch lectures, read assigned material, participate in online discussions and forums, and complete quizzes and tests on the course material," the USP website said.

"MOOCs arise from the confluence of several important trends, and they raise important questions and spark essential conversations about curriculum design, accreditation, what constitutes a valid learning experience, and who has access to higher education."

The MOCC on Climate Change and Pacific islands was formed after UNESCO started a working group at USP to design, develop and deliver a MOOC on climate change.

"This group consisted of staff from the Pacific Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development (PACE-SD), the School of Engineering and Physics, the School of Education and the Centre for Flexible Learning."

"The course was titled Climate Change and Pacific Islands and the content focused on the effects of climate change on the Pacific Islands. The course also provided discourse on actions that could mitigate these effects."

So far the almost 1000 participants range from university students, journalists, non governmental organisations, doctors, lecturers and researchers.