Degree of Freedom

an adventure in online learning

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Twitter
  • HOME
  • CRITICAL THINKING
    • Critical Thinking Essentials
    • High-Leverage Critical Thinking Teaching Practices
      • Fulfilling the Promise of Critical Thinking Education
      • What Are High-Leverage Critical Thinking Practices?
      • The 8 High-Leverage Critical Thinking Teaching Practices
    • LogicCheck
    • Critical Voter
    • Critical Thinking – Writing and Interviews
  • MOOCS
    • The One Year BA
    • MOOCS Essentials
    • MOOCS – Writing and Interviews
    • Degree of Freedom Podcast
  • TEACHING AND EDUCATION
    • Remote Teaching Resources
    • Online Course – Assessment
    • Teaching and Education – Writing and Interviews
    • Podcast – New Books in Education
  • ABOUT/NEWS
    • About the Author
    • Interviews/Speaking Engagements
    • In the News
    • Published Writing
  • BLOG
  • CONTACT

Welcome iversity

October 3, 2013 By DegreeofFreedom in Filed Under: MOOC Providers

Just a short piece today (after such long ones the last couple of days), this one welcoming yet another new player into the MOOC game: Germany’s iversity.

European MOOC activity has generated a fair amount of news lately with FutureLearn and now iversity starting to provide alternatives for European universities looking to work with MOOC organizations who have a strong understanding of local languages and cultural needs (not to mention the intricacies of national and EU education rules and regs).

Like FutureLearn, vis opening up its doors with a short initial list of course offerings (half in English, half in German).  And as nice as it is to have more English-language courses available for learners like myself, I expect iversity will find it niche by cultivating the partnerships needed to deploy a critical mass of material for native language speakers across Continental Europe.

iversity primed its pump with a MOOC Production Fellowship contest that awarded 25,000 Euros (about thirty-three grand) to ten professors interested in producing MOOCs for their platform.   And their attempts to leverage EU accreditation schemes as well as Internet-based outreach tools (such as this Ambassadors program) indicate a readiness to experiment and innovate that has become one of the best things to come out of the MOOC movement.

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to fit an iversity class into my One Year BA schedule, but if time allows I hope to enroll in at least one class from each of the European providers in order to evaluate their platform and content.  And you might just hear a German and/or English accent on the Degree of Freedom podcast before the end of the year if schedules allow me to interview the leaders of one or more of these new European initiatives.

And speaking of the UK, Germany and podcasting, tune in to tomorrow’s show when I’ll be interviewing the American philosopher Peter Adamson, formerly of Kings College in London, now a professor at LMU in Munich, but probably known to many of you as the man behind the History of Philosophy (Without Any Gaps) podcast.

Share this post:

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Recent
  • Comments
  • Tags

Sign up for the Degree of Freedom Newsletter

Recent Posts

  • Event and Interview
  • How to Win an Argument
  • Ethics Bowl
  • Interview with Michael Horn and Vox
  • Channeling Doubt Productively
  • Leveraging the Power of Doubt
  • A Juicy Topic – Critical Thinking

Latest Published Writing

Remote Learning Begs the Question:  Must Lectures Be So Long? (EdSurge – May 25, 2020)

It’s Time to Get Serious About Teaching Critical Thinking (Inside Higher Education – March 2, 2020)

Why the ‘Best’ Ideas in Education Technology and Reform Don’t Win (EdSurge – February 5, 2020)

Is Education Entering an “Age of Alternatives”? (EdSurge – March 2, 2019)

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 1,063 other subscribers

Copyright © 2025 · Degree of Freedom. All Rights Reserved.

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.