The Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand has partnered with some of the world’s top academic institutions in edX, a non-profit open source technology platform that provides high quality education around the globe. Victoria will deliver eight free massive open online courses(MOOCs) over the next three years, as well as a number of SPOCs (small private online courses), a micro-Master’s course and new forms of blended learning.
The first MOOC Victoria will be launching on the edX platform is Antarctica Online, led by Dr Rebecca Priestley and Dr Cliff Atkins from the Faculty of Science. In 2014, the pair spent a fortnight in Antarctica filming lectures and gathering material. In August this year, they travelled to an Antarctic conference in Kuala lumpur where they filmed new lecture material to illustrate the diverse range of researchers who study the continent.
Under the MOOC courses, there will be video lectures for no longer than 7.5 minutes, and are supplemented by readings and other online resources. The courses will run for either four or eight weeks with unlimited class size —the current record is well over one million students enrolled in one course. Victoria’s courses will be subtitled in a range of languages, including te reo Maori.
Professor larner says the partnership with edX is helping set Victoria up for the future. “It fits with the New Zealand government’s enthusiasm for online learning, and with the Productivity Commission of New Zealand’s focus on ‘new models’ for universities. A number of courses we offer are globally distinctive and relevant to an international audience — by transferring some of our existing courses to edX, we will be able to capture people across the world who may not have previously had access to these topics.”