Enrollment for Tokyo Tech's first Massive Open Online Course (MOOC1), "Introduction to Deep Earth Science - Part 1," has opened on the edX2. The MOOC, an exploration of the Earth's interior in English over the course of four weeks, will begin on October 7, 2015.

Tokyo Tech has been preparing the online course since it joined the edX consortium in October 2014. The MOOC will be taught by Professor Kei Hirose, director of the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) at Tokyo Tech. Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology selected ELSI as part of the World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI) in 2012.

Tokyo Institute of Technology's first edX page

https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-deep-earth-science-part-1-tokyotechx-geos101x

Professor Hirose comments on "Introduction to Deep Earth Science - Part 1"
We tried to make the course as easy to understand as possible. Unlike in a regular face-to-face lecture, it will be difficult to get students' reactions immediately. However, we look forward to engaging with the students online and will take these interactions seriously.

In making the MOOC, faculty, staff and teaching assistants (TAs) work together to recreate Hirose's lectures from the learner's perspective. Filming and editing of the videos for this online course are primarily done by TAs.

Teaching Assistants comment on "Introduction to Deep Earth Science - Part 1"
While the theme of this course is the Earth's interior, its real charm is that it allows students to learn about cutting-edge science with the thrill of scientific discovery. Professors, staff, and TAs have put in a lot of work to make this MOOC a good one. We hope that many students from around the world will sign up for this course!

1 MOOC
A MOOC is an online course that is open to anyone with internet access and free of charge. Like a regular course, it has a scheduled time frame and learners can enjoy two-way communication with the instructors and other learners in this interactive learning environment.

2 edX
edX is a non-profit educational organization comprised of the world's top universities, led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University. edX provides an environment where anyone in the world with internet access can study by enrolling in a variety of courses grounded in the latest teaching and learning based research.

Update : September 8, 2015