I have recently become rather interested in the development and possibilities of Massive Open Online Courses or MOOCs and Education for Sustainability. These two themes clearly fit together. MOOCs are free, online courses often delivered by universities. Essentially, the number of people that can take a MOOC is unlimited. It's fair to say that education for sustainability could be making a much greater impact through MOOCs. Check out this short film for a nice introduction to what a MOOC can deliver and how it works.
At my work in Sweden, we have been using online, distance education for our Masters Program for some years now. This is of course limited to only the 30-40 students who make it into our Masters Program each year. But the idea of developing a MOOC on sustainability makes a whole lot of sense. Interestingly, Melbourne University just joined Coursera which is a company partnering with top universities to offer MOOCs. It is easy to see how this can lead to opening up knowledge and understanding that is locked away in universities to millions of people around the world. Wow!
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