The Virtual School of Internet Governance (VSIG) has begun a massive global accessible capacity building programme on Internet Governance which had been carried out in face to face format prior to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The VSIG is a free multi-module Massive Open Online Courseware (MOOC) dedicated to the key pillars of Internet Governance. The school uses MOODLE which provides the framework including student registration, online forums, Big Blue Button chats, quizzes and a rich repository of instructional materials.
It was set up to provide a clear educational roadmap for students on Internet Governance by creating a multilingual online training platform that allows novice and advanced students to learn the basics of Internet Governance (IG) in addition to learning to network globally, exchange information and improve their knowledge without any geographic or economic barrier.
It also aims to promote a comprehensive free online capacity building programme on Internet Governance. The rich content of the programme focuses on the primary learning objectives as found in face to face schools of Internet Governance. Due to COVID 19 these schools are either halted or seriously postponed.
The VSIG is a brainchild of Prof. Alfredo Calderon and Glenn McKnight who conceptualized the idea during the recent COVID-19 Pandemic with a remote learning solution. The idea is to initiate discussion and interaction among the members, inform on the latest news and developments in the Internet Governance field and basically share experiences, during and after the course.
The course content for the ten-week programme has ten modules including: History, Actors, Infrastructure, Development, and Security. The other modules are Legal, Economic, Social and Cultural Issues, Human Rights, and Emergent Technologies.
The Course is open to all regions with intakes including Post-secondary students, ICANN, ISOC and other fellows. Students will be committed to 4 to 6 hours per module, participate in the module discussion thread and agree to the digital code of conduct. In addition, they are expected to attend weekly Live Chat sessions or view via Playlist and complete all modules before receiving the certificate of completion.
