The University of Queensland’s Critical Development Perspectives edX course has received an international Award of Excellence from the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
Developed as a UQx project with the Institute for Social Science Research (ISSR) for inclusion in UQ’s Leadership in Global Development MicroMasters program, the course was announced as one of the top three 2019 Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) to be recognised internationally for excellence by the SDG Academy and UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) in New York.
The Awards of Excellence recognise courses that demonstrate expert knowledge and leadership, are artfully presented, highly engaging, exemplify stellar commitment to UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and build knowledge and capacity around SDG implementation.
Course facilitator Professor Mark Moran worked closely with the UQx team to develop the course and thanked ISSR Research Officer Erin Lord Lynch, UQx Manager John Zornig, Media Production Team Leader Matt Petersen, Learning Design Team Leader Linda MacDonald and Course Project Manager Stella Winn for their strong support in creating the award-winning course.
“The success of the MOOC is largely due to the teamwork and knowledge-sharing during the course development,” Professor Moran said.
“It was a tremendous collaboration between UQx, ISSR and an amazing group of global academics and practitioners who are leading current debates in international development.”
Mr Zornig added that putting students and their experience first was the key focus during the course development phase.
“The course brings students face-to-face with complex issues in contemporary debates and current challenges facing international development practice.”
“We set out to build a course with an ambitious design based on three years of MOOC building experience at UQ to produce Australia’s first MicroMasters program.
