Kristyn Comino
13 March 2015: More than 1,000 participants from at least 18 countries have enrolled in the University of Canberra's first free Massive Open Online Course (MOOC): Sport Informatics and Analytics.
Professional coaches, educators, analysts and statisticians from across Australia and around the globe are among those taking part in the four-week course, which is taught fully online at no cost to the participant.
UC now offers a free online course for participants to learn more about sports informatics and analytics, including how athletes perform. Photo Katherine Griffiths |
Course convenor Keith Lyons said the non-linear content is structured so people can work through it at their own pace and encourages a 'connectivity' approach to learning, where the main focus is on networking to share information.
"This is an exciting global learning experience where participants can manage their own learning and develop networks and make connections to discuss a wide range of informatics and analytics in sport contexts," Adjunct Professor Lyons said.
"We have senior experts in their fields taking part in the course, with participants based in countries including Qatar, France, Greece, Spain and the US. It's quite humbling to be in the company of these global experts – all sharing their knowledge with us and each other in a supportive online learning environment."
The four themes of the course are informatics and analytics, pattern recognition, performance monitoring and audience and messages. Each component features written content as well as a guest video from athletes, including the University's athlete in residence Melissa Breen and experts such as the University's coach in residence Carrie Graf.
Adjunct Professor Lyons hopes that what participants will take away from the course is new knowledge and networks to advance their professional development. The course is also co-taught as part of the University's Master of High Performance Sport , giving these students access to potentially helpful networks and resources.
Hosted online by Canvas Network, the course started on 23 February but is open for enrolment at any time due to the self-paced nature of the content.
The University has two other free online courses in development that are set to begin later in the year: Open Mic Songwriting starting in May and Navigating Your Professional Future commencing in June. These courses are part of UC Open program, which is a way for the community to access the University's learning resources.