What do an Egyptian course on lung cancer, a Lebanese booklet on working as a professor and a Canadian presentation on the animals of Alaska have in common? They are all among the 37,000 digital resources available on the new online course portal launched by the Francophone University Association (AUF) this past June 17th.
Project coordinator Jean-François Lancelot says the "portal of portals" brings together the online courses and exercises of universities and research organizations in roughly twenty countries. It is distinguished by its exclusive focus on Francophone universities.
Users can sort content by field, country, type, format, level and upload date. A freshman math major, for example, can consult courses and exercises on differential equations in the form of videos and interactive PDFs to compliment his or her school's offerings. Teachers can also find resources for their own classes and training materials on topics such as creating MOOCs and serious games.
Southern Exposure
For Lancelot, the goal is to both "bring together a large number of free educational resources and promote emerging countries' contributions." For now, "we only have 1,000 to 2,000 contributions from the global south but they are of a very high quality." Lancelot says that while "developed countries have a head start," there is "real cooperation" between the participating schools.
Developing countries are happy to gain access to more resources and "developed countries gain in exposure to new scientific and cultural material," Lancelot explains. In an increasingly globalized world, the portal also gives schools the chance to see how their courses work for foreign students.
