Scholars at Risk, together with our Academic Refuge project* partners, have created a free massive open online course (MOOC) on why academic freedom matters.
The course begins 15 April on FutureLearn. Register today!
Course Trailer
WHAT IS THE COURSE ABOUT?
Scholars and students around the world ask questions; questions about the environment; questions about health; questions about poverty and development; questions about justice; questions about truth. And the answers to these questions affect all of society.
But sometimes asking questions can be dangerous. Academic freedom protects the right to ask sensitive, even dangerous questions. Not just scholars’ questions, but the freedom for you to think and ask questions that really matter.
WHO IS THE COURSE FOR?
This course is designed for students and staff in higher education, and is also relevant for anyone interested in asking critical questions. In its first two runs the course brought together participants from over 110 countries. Join our global conversation about academic freedom!
COURSE PREVIEW The MOOC
features interactive quizzes, discussion forums, animations, and video lectures through which participants explore what academic freedom is, and why it matters not only to scholars, but to all of society.
Interactive Polls and Quizzes
Interactive Polls and Quizzes Test your understanding of academic freedom against other learners and see where you agree and disagree on key questions. Take a poll.
Animations
Animations follow fictionalized accounts of a professor, a student, and a university administration as they ask “dangerous questions.” View video.
Testimonials
Scholars from North America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East talk about the direct and indirect threats to academic freedom. View video.
Video Lectures
Rob Quinn, Executive Director of Scholars at Risk, and Dr. Olga Hünler, a Philipp Schwartz Initiative Fellow at the University of Bremen in Germany, take learners through the three-week course. View video.
*The Academic Refuge project aims to improve the capacity of European universities to assist refugees and threatened academics on campus and to promote understanding and respect for higher education values. Partners include the University of Oslo¨the UNICA network¨ the University of Ljubljana and Scholars at Risk. The European University Association (EUA), the European Association of International Education (EAIE), Al-Fanar Media¨ and University World News are associate partners on the project.