Awarded for the project: MOOC+ English+: Towards a connected world through language and learning.
The MOOC English Pronunciation in a Global World has been developed by the VU and is freely accessible. The latest edition of this MOOC, which consists of an academic English pronunciation course, welcomed no less than 100,000 participants from all over the world. It is not so much about teaching participants a native English accent: the aim of the MOOC is to teach participants to be understood in English and to understand other English accents. The diversity and personal identities in English accents are explicitly embraced and cherished.
A number of developments are important in order to continue to optimize the MOOC and to be able to offer it sustainably and more frequently to a larger number of stakeholders. For example, the MOOC will develop more regional-specific content based on the input of the participants and a mentor program with alumni will be set up. Ultimately, a dynamic community of learners with a diverse palette of histories, languages, and cultures emerges that supports, sustains and grows itself further as participants become mentors themselves. The experiences that come from these further developments of the MOOC contribute to the quality of online education at the VU.