10,000 sign up to `Identify the Dead’
Published On Tue 4 Aug 2015 by Roddy Isles
A free online course launched by the University of Dundee last month which allows participants to take the role of a forensic investigator at the heart of a Val McDermid mystery has already had 10,000 people sign up.
`Identifying The Dead: forensic science and human identification’ is a MOOC, or massive open online course, where anyone can sign up to take the six-week course. It has been launched on the FutureLearn platform by the University of Dundee and its world-renowned Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification.
The background story for the course has been written by crime author Val McDermid and has all the ingredients you may expect – a body found on a hill in the centre of Dundee, a mystery as to its identity, police looking for the help of a forensic investigator.
The dream of all crime fiction fans is that they be the one who steps into that vital role. Now they can, thanks to the course, and the 10,000th person has just signed up.
“We are delighted to have 10,000 people already signed up to the course just weeks after launching it,” said Dr Helen Meadows, Project Director for the course at the University of Dundee.
“At CAHID we work on this kind of investigation all the time, helping police in criminal investigations and identifying individuals in all manner of different circumstances.
“We know from the queries we get from the public, and also from the huge audiences for programmes like `CSI’ and the sales of crime writers like Val, that there is a huge interest in how this works. What we are doing with this course is giving everyone a chance to find out for themselves how we do it.
“This course will give a real insight into the work we do. It is also set at a level where people don’t require any prior specialist knowledge and it is suitable for anyone from 12 to 112. We would encourage as many people as possible to give it a try and are keen to attract thousands more people to take part.”
FutureLearn enables millions of people around the world to share learning experiences, free of charge, through massive open line courses (MOOCS). A global community of learners will be able to work together to solve the author’s latest mystery.
Anyone can sign up to the free course and pick their way through the plot, which will unfold over six weeks and require them to solve the mysteries presented by the discovery of a dead body. They will be presented with pieces of evidence and video footage around the case.
Filming for the course has already sparked an alert after locals who spotted people in uniform and police tape thought there had been an actual incident on the Law.
Registration for the course, which is free, is open now at www.futurelearn.com/courses/identifying-the-dead/
The course will start in September and will be accessed entirely online. The story by Val McDermid which underpins the course will also be available to download but only when the course is completed.
Participants can take an exam at the end of a course for a fee, although this is entirely optional.
The course is the second MOOC – massive open online course – launched by the University of Dundee after signing an agreement with the FutureLearn platform. FutureLearn reaches almost two million people in more than 190 countries around the world with free online courses from some of the world’s leading educators.
MOOCs are free to access and enable a wide audience to engage with higher education. The first course offered by Dundee is on Antimicrobial Stewardship, delivered in partnership with the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy and focusing on one of the world’s emergent health problems.
Notes to Editors
About CAHID
The Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification (CAHID) at the University of Dundee is headed by Professor Sue Black. It is one of the world’s foremost institutions for the study and application of human anatomy, forensic human identification, disaster victim identification and forensic and medical art. It was awarded the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher Education 2014.
About FutureLearn
FutureLearn is a social learning platform based in the UK and providing free, online courses from world-class educators. The partnership consists of higher and specialist education institutions from the UK and around the world, alongside cultural icons like the British Library, British Council and the British Museum. All these offer high quality courses to anyone with an internet connection, anywhere in the world. The FutureLearn course experience centres on social interaction, whereby people learn by engaging in conversations around the learning material. FutureLearn is wholly owned by The Open University (UK), which has over 40 years’ expertise in distance and online learning. For more information, visit www.futurelearn.com.