Nine new online education projects led by Duke faculty will be developed in the 2015-2016 academic year through support from Duke Online Education Initiatives, which seeks to advance educational excellence at the university through online teaching and learning. The projects will explore how online technologies and teaching methods can encourage pedagogical innovation, strengthen Duke’s global partnerships and showcase Duke’s academic excellence.

The projects range from a department-wide effort to create online resources for undergraduate organic chemistry courses to an open online course that aims to function as a work of art. Many of the projects were selected from a call for proposals sponsored by Duke University Provost Sally Kornbluth and the Advisory Committee for Online Education (ACOE).

“I am especially pleased at the variety of subject areas, teaching approaches and online education models reflected in this new group of projects,” said Lynne O’Brien, Associate Vice Provost for Digital and Online Education Initiatives.

Since 2012, Online Education Initiatives has supported the development of over 40 online education projects, many of them free, open courses offered on Coursera. This year, Duke sought to broaden the types of projects selected for development to include efforts focused on campus learning and smaller learning communities, such as global entrepreneurs participating in the Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator at Duke. Cathy Clark, a professor at the Fuqua School of Business, will lead a project to develop online education modules to teach these entrepreneurs, located in East Africa and India, how to overcome persistent challenges social entrepreneurs face.

“We see online education as an efficient and effective way to meet these and other social entrepreneurs where they are to help them scale the great and impactful work they are doing,” said Clark.

Faculty will begin developing the projects immediately, and the first will launch this summer. Each faculty member will receive an instructor incentive payment; support from staff of the Center for Instructional Technology (CIT), the Office of Information Technology (OIT), and Duke University Libraries; loan of a video production kit; and other resources as necessary.

New Duke Online Education Projects

Open Organic Chemistry
Dorian Canelas, Department of Chemistry, Trinity College of Arts and Sciences

Faculty in Duke’s Chemistry department will collaborate to develop a library of organic chemistry videos for Duke students in Organic Chemistry 1.

Music as Biology Coursera Course
Dale Purves, Duke Institute for Brain Sciences

Dales Purves, who has twice taught his open online course “Visual Perception and the Brain,” will create a new four-week course on the relationship between music and the brain.

Social Entrepreneurship Online Modules
Cathy Clark, Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE), Fuqua School of Business

The Fuqua School of Business’s Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) will create modular online lessons on social entrepreneurship based on research and practical expertise from the center’s faculty.

Energy and Environment Coursera Course
Lincoln Pratson, Earth & Ocean Sciences Division, Nicholas School of the Environment

This open online course will provide students with a technical, business and societal understanding of the world’s current energy system, the impact it is having on the environment, and possible pathways to a more sustainable future energy system.

Online Hardware Labs
Martin Brooke, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Pratt School of Engineering

Martin Brooke will develop a new version of a Duke electronics lab course in which students will conduct experiments outside the lab using portable electronics kits and online tutorials.

Art Coursera Course
Pedro Lasch, Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

This open online course on contemporary socially engaged art will be designed so that the course itself is a work of art.

Innovation & Design for Global Grand Challenges Coursera Course
Alex Dehgan, David Rubenstein Fellow, Duke University

Alex Dehgan, an expert in international development and Duke’s inaugural David Rubenstein fellow, will develop on open online course that will equip students to address current global challenges in conservation and development.

Frontiers in Global Health, Disability and Rehabilitation Coursera Course
Michel D. Landry, Doctor of Physical Therapy Program, Duke University School of Medicine

Michel Landry, Chief of Duke’s Doctor of Physical Therapy Division, will develop an on-demand open online course on the challenges facing persons with disabilities in low- and middle-income countries.

Data Standards and the Learning Health Care System
Rachel Richesson, Duke University School of Nursing

Rachel Richesson will create an online version of a popular course from the Informatics program at the Duke University School of Nursing in order to educate health care professionals about the importance of data standards.