Arizona State University has launched its first Massive Open Online Course, or MOOC, on media literacy. MOOCs are free and open to the public and require no prerequisites. According to ASU, the course is one of the first of its kind offered by a major journalism program.
The Robert R. McCormick Foundation partnered with ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism to support the course. Professor Dan Gillmor teaches the course and said enrollment is increasing rapidly.
“It’s over 3,000 at this point," he said. "I do know that we have an amazing variety of countries. The last we checked I think there were people from 126 countries. The largest number are from the U.S., but that’s only still about 30 percent.”
Gillmor said he hopes the class teaches students to think critically about the media. While it started Monday, students may still enroll throughout the entire seven-week course.