Wesleyan to Develop MOOC Based on Social Good Summit

[Re-posted from The Wesleyan Connection.]

Logo_SGS2013In September, Wesleyan President Michael Roth will be a speaker at the Social Good Summit, to be held at the 92 Street Y in New York, Sept. 22-24. Fifty-five of today’s global leaders in new media, technology, nonprofits, international affairs and numerous other areas will explore “the power of innovative thinking and technology to solve our greatest challenges.” At the conference, Roth will formally introduce a new massive open online course (MOOC) on the Coursera platform to develop and share many of the ideas raised at the Summit.

The MOOC, a collaboration between Wesleyan and 92Y, will be called, “How to Change the World.” Registration will open prior to the Summit, and the course is expected to launch in January 2014.

Each class will begin with a video segment from the Social Good Summit and will be facilitated by Roth, using input from a variety of others including Wesleyan professors. Classes will explore solutions to pressing issues ranging from global warming to urban poverty. More details will be announced in the future.

“We welcome the opportunity to work with the 92nd Street Y in this innovative way,” Roth said. “Setting the Social Good Summit in an academic context and making discussion about provocative ideas available worldwide through Coursera is an exciting prospect!”

The Social Good Summit is sponsored by 92Y, Mashable, the United Nations Foundation, the United Nations Development Programme, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Ericsson. Speakers include former Vice President Al Gore; Global Health Corps. CEO and Co-Founder Barbara Bush; United Nations Foundation CEO Kathy Calvin; NASA Astronaut Ron Garan; The New York Times Editor Sarah Kramer; UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake; Mashable Chief Marketing Officer Stacy Martinet; American Renewable Energy Institute President Sally Renney; Tumblr Director of Outreach Liba Rubenstein; DJ and Artist DJ Spooky; Nobel Women’s Initiative Chair Jody Williams; and many more. A full list of speakers is available on the Social Good Summit website.