More than 100,000 participants in the MOOC Terrorism and Counterterrorism
The MOOC Terrorism and Counterterrorism: Comparing Theory & Practice by Prof. Edwin Bakker, co-developed by the Centre for Innovation, has now attracted over 100,000 participants. It is the first MOOC of Leiden University to reach this magic number.
Since the course was launched in September 2013, it has been offered four times on the platform Coursera. The course is now also available in On Demand format, which means that anyone can start the course at any time. On Demand participants have the opportunity to join a cohort and receive a corresponding study plan with deadlines.
Worldwide attention
The MOOC Terrorism and Counterterrorism has been able to gain worldwide attention with students coming from more than 170 countries. Recently, the course was shortlisted in the French newspaper Le Monde as one of the top 10 MOOCs to follow this summer. Teachers all around the world use Bakker’s videos in their own courses. Bakker also uses his videos when teaching the course in flip the classroom format at Leiden University. Last summer, he published the handbook “Terrorism and Counterterrorism Studies" based on the course at Leiden University Press.
New ways of teaching
He could never have imagined that the MOOC would attract so many participants. “It helped me to think about different, new ways of teaching. The MOOC enabled me to attract a worldwide audience while studying a global, and unfortunately still very topical phenomenon. I have also been able to learn a great deal from the different experiences and insights that were shared by the participants in the forum”.