Introduction to vine and wine sciences: vine and wine massive open online course (Vine & Wine MOOC)

Abstract

Digital technology has revolutionized the way we communicate. It should fundamentally transform the way we teach. Since late 2011, the rise of MOOCs (massive open online courses) has gradually redefined both access to and the design of higher education worldwide. In this context, the French government adopted an ambitious roadmap for digital teaching. The goal of the Ministry of Higher Education and Research is to make available an ambitious offer for online learning and to use digital tools to change teaching practices through the creation of the FUN platform (France Université Numérique). As one of France’s leading agronomy colleges and part of the national Agreenium network, Montpellier SupAgro is involved in this development together with Bordeaux Sciences Agro, ENSA Toulouse and AgroSup Dijon and has started to create MOOCs on several topics under the co-ordination of the Ministry of Agriculture. The Vine and Wine MOOC project is focused on vine and wine sciences, internationally recognized as one of France’s foremost areas of research and education. This MOOC project has two main goals:

(i) to transmit basic heuristic knowledge in the vine and wine sciences,

(ii) and to increase the international visibility of viticulture and oenology training institutions and reinforce their attractiveness for overseas students.

Based on the high quality of the research and teaching team of the consortium involved in the project, and based on the skills and experience in e-learning of the TICE (Information and communication technologies for education) team of Montpellier SupAgro, the project will develop a five-week course.