The University of Massachusetts Boston School of Environmental Science is offering a free Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Coast and Communities. This course is for students who are interested in learning about ways to preserve the earth.
By having this course consist of a curriculum that strives to educate students about environmental issues, students will learn what the most important problems facing our earth are and learn precautionary measures to battle such problems.
“Our broad academic charge is, as a public higher education institution, to communicate this knowledge to broad audiences,” explains the School for the Environment Dean Robyn Hannigan, “By having this course open to the public, there are opportunities for us to impart knowledge on a large population. It allows us to communicate environmental science concerns in colloquialisms, and empower the students in the course to activate this knowledge and begin to help solve environmental problems in their own backyard.”
“Understanding how our planet works, how its coastal environments interact and depend upon the human systems to which they are coupled is vital to our collective human nature,” Hannigan continues.  
The course opened on Sept. 13, and will proceed until Nov. 1. Students are able to join at any time.  There is an incorporation of a variety of learning techniques through a MOOC formatted class that will engage students. Despite the course being online, there will be opportunities for discussions and group work. If one enjoys this course, he or she can have the opportunity to participate in a similar realm of study hosted in Nantucket. The recruiting process is currently underway.