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FTA Announce #20: FTA Course Calendar and proposals for 2013/2014

Submitted by marco on Sat, 06/15/2013 - 12:39

During 2013/2014 the Free Knowledge Institute plans to increase both the number and the variety of courses offered through the online Free Technology Academy and/or in partnership with other organisations. This announcement serves to communicate the Master Level Courses that will take place in the first part of the year 2013/2014. These courses last around 3 months and follow the already proven Free Technology Academy model described at /courses.  The course fee of €380 covers consistent instructor engagement with the forums over the 3 month term, personal feedback on continuous assessment activities and maintenance of the FTA's online campus, with a portion going to further course development. Participants also benefit from discussions with peers in the course forum and other sections of the Free Technology Academy campus. One of the unique features of the FTA is that course materials we have developed are 100% free-as-in-freedom, and available online.  All participants who complete an FTA course will receive a course certificate.

 
First session: October, 2013-December, 2013
 
  Instructor: Marco Fioretti
  Instructor: Marco Fioretti
 
Second session: January, 2014-March 2014
 
  Instructor: Marco Fioretti
 
  • "Free SW for self-managed cloud computing" Master Level Course providing the basic skills to self-built personal cloud systems as described here
  Instructor: Marco Fioretti
 
  • Fundamentals of HDL/FPGA design for digital Free/Open HW (see here for general background;  dates TBA
 
ENROLMENT:
 
Enrolment for the courses is already open. To enrol, please follow the instructions at /enrolment-help
 
OTHER COURSES AND INITIATIVES
 
We are currently working on preliminary designs for courses on other topics, including but not limited to:
 
- Arduino
- Rasperry PI
- Digital mapping with Free Software, eg hacking OpenStreetMap and more
- Cryptocurrencies
 
We also plan to begin offering courses using some new models of engagement - in particular the Enhanced Peer Learning course modell. In this mode, participants mainly help each other, while lightly supported by a tutor. The costs for participants are consequently lower, while the course topics can be more dynamic and engaging for the community.  Please let us know which courses and modes you are interested in, or suggest other topics, writing at contact@ftacademy.org.
 
About the FTA Campus
All courses provided by the Free Technology Academy are conducted  entirely online at the FTA Virtual Campus. The FTA learning methodology  allows learners to define their own study schedule: asynchronous communication tools, few deadlines and activities that can be joined at  different dates and times. This model allows for anyone to join FTA  courses, regardless of their location and job, as long as they have regular access to the Internet.
 
About the FTA Master Level Courses (MLC)
FTA courses offered at master level are structured in a 13 week programme following the course book that can be downloaded freely in PDF from the FTA website. The study programme is guided by an academic tutor who provides feedback both in the online  campus and on the Continuous Assessment Activities. At the end students who pass the course are entitled to an FTA Course certificate. In some cases these certificates are recognised through previously existing agreements with certain universities, in other cases, the relevant authorities of a particular university (e.g. exam committee) will need to validate possible waivers for their master programme. In general FTA MLC courses are worth 5 ECTS. 
 
About FTA Enhanced Peer Learning (EPL)
EPL is conceived as a flexible and scalable activity-based course model,  where learners follow a sequence of blocks consisting on several  learning materials. Peer support and group discussions play a central  role in the classroom, facilitated by one or more Learning Assistants. See: http://campus.ftacademy.org/wiki/index.php/Enhanced_Peer_Learning_Model
 
All course participants will also be automatically enrolled into a jointly-shared forum where discussions of personal and professional interests, comments on the course materials and instruction, and plans for shared activities are welcome. More information about how the FTA can help you incubate your free/open projects is available http://campus.ftacademy.org/wiki/index.php/Free_Technology_Incubator
 
 
About the Free Technology Academy
The Free Technology Academy offers an online master level programme  with course modules about Free Technologies. The FTA is hosted by the Free Knowledge Institute (FKI). The founding partners are the FKI and two European universities: the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Spain) and the Open Universiteit of the Netherlands. The Associate Partner Network  adds to the founding base with a widespread network of organisations  that share a common interest in offering courses in the area of Free  Technology.
  • More information: /
  • Contact information: contact[AT]ftacademy.org
 
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