The new EMMA MOOC Adolescent Brain: Brain, Lifestyle and Learning was launched on the EMMA platform on 14 April. This MOOC is designed by a team of researchers of the Open University Netherlands led by Dr Renate de Groot.
For a number of years Dr de Groot and her colleagues have been giving lectures on this subject for teachers and parents of adolescents. The popularity of these lectures and the relevance of the topic itself determined the choice of the EMMA project team to launch a MOOC on the topic. The successful start indicates that the choice was correct – the MOOC attracted 1200 learners at its start and the number of partcipants is still growing. In the first two weeks the level of participation was very high. The first of the 7 lessons has been already completed by 40% of the MOOC participants. The course has an active Facebook group set up by the participants and highlights can be found on Twitter with the hashtag #BLLMOOC. In the weeks to come participants will learn what constitutes a healthy breakfast, why sleep hygiene is important, how chewing gum is related to school performance and many more. Participants will also be introduced to research findings that underpin the presented conclusions. More about this MOOC on the EMMA platform, the MOOC is still open for enrolment both in Dutch and in English.