MOOCs at the Institut Pasteur: a wide variety of courses on key scientific issues

MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) are a valuable learning tool with a wide variety of potential uses. While they mainly tend to be used as stand-alone teaching units, they can also serve as a theoretical introduction in preparation for an instructor-led course with a more practical slant.

Since the Institut Pasteur joined the ranks of MOOC producers in 2014, it has produced 15 MOOCs, thereby contributing to one of its major missions: education.

From its first MOOC on "Concepts and methods in epidemiology" in 2014 to its latest courses, the Institut Pasteur's MOOCs have proved highly popular. The average number of learners registered for the Institut Pasteur's MOOCs is 3,500 per MOOC, from an average of 110 different countries.

The Institut Pasteur collaborates with content distribution platforms such as France Université Numérique (FUN), US-based COURSERA and the Chinese platform XuetangX to boost the visibility of its MOOCs both in France and at global level. FUN, which is celebrating its fifth anniversary, recently decided to interview some of the contributors that enable it to provide such a wealth of varied teaching material – including the Institut Pasteur, and more precisely Dominique Franco, Coordinator of the Education Department and Director of MOOCs, and Arnaud Fontanet, Professor at the Institut Pasteur and at the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers (CNAM). Twelve of the Institut Pasteur's 15 MOOCs have been distributed via this platform.

Read the press release (in French)The Institut Pasteur has been producing MOOCs for five years already, and this is set to continue under the 2019-2023 strategic plan, which provides for the continued development of online teaching, especially through the production of three MOOCs per year and/or the redistribution of previous MOOCs. All new courses created will be in line with the strategic scientific topics identified in the plan, and efforts will be made to secure accreditation at university level.

In 2019, three new MOOCs will be created: "Epigenetics", "Population genetics" and "Emerging and re-emerging viruses". Two previous MOOCs, "Medical Entomology" and "Vaccinology", have also been updated so that they can be re-run this year.

Cooperation is ongoing with UNESCO to boost the distribution of MOOCs in Africa, and with the Ipsen Foundation to set up a digital diploma that would be awarded for the completion of several Institut Pasteur MOOCs.