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Deakin takes a lesson in MOOCs
Deakin University is joining education providers worldwide by offering its free online course to its students, which can go towards a postgraduate qualification. By Antonia Maiolo
The 12-week course on humanitarian emergencies will be the first in the University’ s new open learning sphere known as DeakinConnect and will start this month.
The course – Humanitarian Responses to 21st Century Disasters – will explore the complexities of working in the global humanitarian field and examine the ethical challenges of disaster and emergency response.
It will be free and open to anyone. For students wanting to earn credit towards a postgraduate qualification, they can do so by paying Deakin a fee of $ 495 to have their work formally assessed.
Besides the fee, students will need to complete a separate research paper and pass an interview in order to gain accreditation for the work completed.
The credit option has been set a limit to a maximum of 100 students as the number of people who will opt for formal assessment and who will be doing the course is unknown at this early stage.
But all students will be encouraged to award“ peer credits” to other students’ work using digital badging to be shared using Facebook or LinkedIn.
Deakin vice-chancellor professor Jane den Hollander said peer assessments would provoke“ rich digital learning”.
“ Participants will be invited to create up to six learning exhibits that specifically demonstrate their capabilities and share their exhibits with peers,” den Hollander said.
She said DeakinConnect – Deakin’ s own MOOC model – fits with the university’ s aim of offering students“ brilliant education” through“ personal, engaging and relevant learning experiences”.
Den Hollander said the open learning platform was the ideal delivery channel for the course as it allows participants to connect from anywhere around the globe. Students will have access to resources including expert commentary and interview test response strategies in‘ Lolesia’, an imaginary country based in south-east Asia.
Participants will also be encouraged to explore opportunities to become involved in humanitarian aid programs.
Deakin has worked in partnership with groups such as Save the Children, Plan, Care, AusAid, Oxfam, World Vision and the Asian Disaster Reduction and Response Network in the development of the course and will continue to work with them during the program. n
No charges laid in UQ nepotism scandal
The University of Queensland has been cleared following an investigation by the Crime and Misconduct Commission( CMC) over a student thought to have received‘ special’ treatment.
The CMC conducted an independent examination concerning a complaint made over the improper student enrolment of a close relative of former vicechancellor professor Paul Greenfield in January 2012.
The review also examined the University’ s overall management of official misconduct matters.
Greenfield and senior deputy vicechancellor Michael Keniger both resigned after the scandal broke in late 2011.
The close relative who received special treatment was at the time a first-year student in UQ’ s pre-med program known as the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery( MBBS) program. It is understood that the student attained the OP, but did not pass a required Undergraduate Medicine and Heath Sciences Admissions Test( UMAT).
Under an admission rule that did not apply in the circumstances, an offer of an additional place was made to the student in this case.
According to UQ policy documents admission rules can be bent in“ exceptional circumstances”, while the vice-chancellor has the capacity to waive strict application rules for a particular applicant.
At the time, however, Greenfield indicated in an email to staff members that he did not execute such powers.
The complaint was first referred to the CMC by the University in October 2011.
In a statement, the University of Queensland vice-chancellor Peter Hoj said it has worked extensively with the CMC over almost two years to review the institution’ s procedures and processes.
“ Where there was scope for improvement, these have been completed in conjunction with the CMC,” Hoj said.
“ UQ is keen to see the CMC investigation finalised.”
The CMC is still preparing a full report on the matter for parliament. n
8 | July 2013