Uni of Adelaide to expand open online learning activity

Friday, 16 December 2016

The University of Adelaide will expand its global open online learning program, AdelaideX, to include potentially credit-bearing sequences of intensive short courses, under a new level of partnership with edX. edX is the world’s leading non-profit, open-source online learning destination founded by Harvard and MIT.

The University today announced it will become an edX Contributing Charter Member, beginning in January 2017, making it one of a select few partners worldwide in the leading partnership group, and one of only three Australian universities.

Contributing Charter membership opens the way for the University to develop more MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and will also enable the creation of new pathways from open online study into postgraduate courses.

“Since joining edX in June 2014, we have been establishing our presence in the fast-growing world of open online learning, producing nine MOOCs and attracting almost 400,000 enrolments in more than 200 countries around the world,” says Professor Pascale Quester, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic) at the University of Adelaide.

“Building on this success, we’ve taken the decision to expand our open online learning initiative, capitalising on opportunities that are now opening up to develop innovative, larger scale MOOC programs, credit-eligible open study pathways, and a number of other initiatives to help learners prepare for study and career.

“This will cement our position in the edX community and set the scene for us to generate more open online learning opportunities for global and on-campus students, through our AdelaideX courses and programs.”

Contributing Charter membership provides the opportunity to offer more online courses on edx.org and provides the University with a pathway to more deeply contribute to the strategic and operational direction at edX, such as sharing of development and research projects, and collaborative working with other universities worldwide.

“We are honoured to expand our collaboration with the University of Adelaide,” said Anant Agarwal, edX CEO and MIT Professor. “From courses such as Think.Create.Code to Introduction to Data Structures and Introduction to Project Management, Adelaide’s courses are helping edX learners improve their lives and advance their careers. We look forward to our continued partnership as we work together to increase access to high-quality education and explore new and innovative credit-offerings and pathways to campus.”

The University is already planning to develop MicroMasters programs, a series of graduate level courses designed to advance careers or accelerate a Master’s degree, which provide a MOOC entry point for Masters study.

Globally, students will be able to complete a sequence of MOOCs in a MicroMasters program, earn a standalone MicroMasters credential, and then, upon admission, have the opportunity to earn credit for a specified Masters program at Adelaide. The first such program is likely to be in the area of data science in the first half of 2017, with entry possible into a Masters degree in 2018.

“It’s a very exciting concept and will enable us to design and offer high-quality postgraduate course provision in new and creative ways,” says Professor Quester.

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