ANU MOOCs to Reduce University Energy Use

Greetings from the ANU Energy Change Institute Open Day at the Australian National Institute in Canberra. In her welcome Professor Marnie Hughes-Warrington, DVC Academic, mentioned that she had seen the rushes of the video for ANU's first Massive Open Online (MOOC) course. This will be released through the edX consortium in early 2014. The course on astronomy will feature Nobel Prize winner, Professor Brian Schmidt.  Professor Hughes-Warrington quipped that the use of an on-line course will help bring Professor Schmidt's frequent flier miles under control, as he can be seen on-screen by people around the world, without leaving Canberra. This is a serious aspect of e-learning which is often overlooked. Students and staff not having to travel reduces travel costs, energy use and carbon emissions. The amount of saving can be complex to calculate and it is one of the exercises I get my ICT Sustainability students to calculate as part of their course, including those undertaking the ANU Master of Energy Change.