To start with, The School of Health and Related
Research (ScHARR) is offering three courses in 2013. The first course, ‘Healthy
Sustainable Diets’ is scheduled from 17th June-21st July, followed by the ‘Health
Inequalities’ course from 15th July to 18th August and ‘Health Technology
Assessment’ from 28th October to 1st December. Nearly 1,000 people from 52
countries across the globe, including India, Brazil, Ethiopia and Nepal, have
already signed for the three courses.

 Dr Michelle Holdsworth, a Senior Lecturer in
Public Health at ScHARR, said, “Our MOOCs offer a stimulating virtual learning
environment which will give people from across the globe an interactive taster
of the high quality education we have to offer. Learners will be able to participate in webinars on real
time and interact with fellow pupils and academicians, as well as being able to
pause the tutorials and watch them at whatever time suits them – whether that
is in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning.”

 The University has established a unique platform for lecturers
to share their reading material, interactive quizzes and academic papers with the
learners online. The courses will run for four weeks and learners would be
required to dedicate nearly four to five hours every week. Registering for the
courses will require no prerequisites in terms of education or academic
background. Budding learners simply need an internet connection to get going.
They will receive a digital certificate (PDF file) upon the completion of each
course. However, the ScHARR courses will not earn them any University credits
that can be transferred on to a formal degree, diploma or certificate
programme. Also, there is no deadline to appear for the courses-one simply
needs to sign up before each course begins.

 Digital world is the future and MOOCs are just one way
that the University of Sheffield is pushing digital boundaries. The university
has also collaborated with Futurelearn – the first free, open online platform
to make way for engaging and entertaining courses. Online education is allowing
the University of Sheffield to engage with learners from around the world. The
courses offer a tremendous opportunity for more people to access the high
quality education that the University of Sheffield delivers.

 In a bid to make the University more accessible to
prospective international students, the Department of Physics and Astronomy at
the University of Sheffield also launched a virtual open day, allowing
prospective students the chance to experience a greater interaction and learn
more about courses, facilities campus life and the community from the comfort
of their own home.
http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/news/nr/virtual-open-day-department-physics-astronomy-1.270891

For
further relevant information regarding MOOCs, visit http://www.shef.ac.uk/scharr/prospective_students/moocs/moocs

About
The University of Sheffield:

·     With
nearly 25,000 students from 125 countries, the University of Sheffield is one
of the UK’s leading and largest universities. A member of the Russell Group, it
has a reputation for world-class teaching and research excellence across a wide
range of disciplines.

·       The
University of Sheffield has been named University of the Year in the Times
Higher Education Awards for its exceptional performance in research, teaching,
access and business performance.  In addition, the University has won four
Queen’s Anniversary Prizes (1998, 2000, 2002, 2007). These prestigious awards
recognize outstanding contributions by universities and colleges to the United
Kingdom’s intellectual, economic, cultural and social life. Sheffield also
boasts five Nobel Prize winners among former staff and students and many of its
alumni have gone on to hold positions of great responsibility and influence
around the world.

·   The
University’s research partners and clients include Boeing, Rolls-Royce,
Unilever, Boots, AstraZeneca, GSK, ICI, Slazenger, and many more household
names, as well as UK and overseas government agencies and charitable foundations.

·  The
University has well-established partnerships with a number of universities and
major corporations, both in the UK and abroad. Its partnership with Leeds and
York Universities in the White Rose Consortium has a combined research power
greater than that of either Oxford or Cambridge.