More than 5,000 people from across the world registered for Victoria’s first offering on the platform, Antarctica: From Geology to Human History, which took students on a free virtual fieldtrip to the coldest, driest, windiest continent on the planet.

The University’s next specialist offering, and the world’s first bicultural MOOC, is New Zealand/Aotearoa: Landscape as Culture, presented by Professor Lydia Wevers and Dr Maria Bargh. It will be delivered as a New Zealand series of courses across four distinct MOOCs, and will be subtitled in te reo Māori.

The first of these will explore the depth of culture attached to the unique features of New Zealand’s landscapes. With a distinct bicultural approach, the course will analyse scientific, political and cultural understandings of Aotearoa and challenge students to re-examine the contested understandings of their own landscapes.

The University’s last MOOC being developed during 2017 will be led by Professor Chris Marshall, the Diana Unwin Chair in Restorative Justice.