Subject: FREE online Cornell course on GMOs launches March 1
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
On Wednesday, March 1, we will re-launch “The Science and
Politics of the GMO” our Cornell- EdEx Massive
Open Online Course (MOOC). Please join us!
This is a five week online Cornell course free to anyone, anywhere
with an internet connection.
Enrollment
for the course is now open, and instruction begins
March 1st. The course is self paced and learners can log on at
any time that is convenient for them to go through the material.
Each week we will host approximately one optional live session through
an online platform called ShinDig. New content is released each week
on Wednesday, but learners can take more than a week to move through the
content. The course assumes only a high school biology background.
It is very accessible.
Studying the science of GMOs helps us to understand
biotechnology’s potential role in addressing eminent challenges in agriculture.
In this free, 5-week introductory course, students will learn the basics of
genetic engineering, explore the political debate around the GMO, and review
the arguments for and against the technology’s use. We will study the politics
surrounding the GMO and its impact at both an individual level and on society
as a whole, including problems, perceptions, benefits, and risks associated
with GMOs.
Our goal is that this MOOC will impact people’s
understanding of science, what it can and can’t do, and how information is
transmitted. The intent is not to influence how people feel about GMOs, but to
provide the critical thinking and scientific literacy tools necessary to make
informed decisions—and to understand the broader impacts of those
decisions.
We first ran this course in September 2016. In that
inaugural run we engaged 6000 learners from 44 countries. 75% of
the course participants were under the age of 40. We hope to build on that first success
as we relaunch the course next week.
Please
help us get the word out about this free course. Please forward this message to
your curious neighbors, your aunties, your colleagues, your local grocer,
your foodie friends and more!
All the best,
Sarah
Blayne Reed
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