COL has partnered with The Forum for Agriculture Research in Africa (FARA) to build the capacity of researchers using scalable online courses in Research, Extension and Education. On 6 July, a virtual workshop introduced the opportunities offered by Agriculture Massive Open Online Courses (agMOOCs) for building multi-level agriculture knowledge and innovative systems.

The workshop brought together 139 participants from 22 countries, with the opening remarks offered by Dr Yemi Akinbamijo, FARA Executive Director and Dr Venkataraman Balaji, Vice President of COL. Key highlights included COL’s experience with agMOOCs and microlearning and the role of researchers in promoting online learning. Participants also discussed best practices, digital competencies and support systems that are required for capacity building using agMOOCs in the research, education and extension context.

Dr Moses Tenywa, COL Education Specialist: Agriculture & Livelihoods, who was one of the workshop presenters, noted: “The workshop revealed the importance assigned to online learning by the larger agricultural community. There was consensus among stakeholders that agMOOCs is an effective way to address capacity gaps in agricultural research of Sub-Saharan Africa.”