How should the course be used?

The online course is designed for any students, regardless of the subject of their studies. In most cases, higher education lecturers will advise their students to complete the six units of the course. Additionally, the lecturer or a tutor may offer the students a lesson in the classroom after each unit with subject-specific activities to apply the skills they learned.

It is an advantage if students can complete the online course in their first year in higher education, as it will help them analyse and evaluate information from the beginning of their studies. But it’s never too late, and we believe students can also benefit in later years.

Please note that when students approach the information we provide, we don’t expect them to memorize the contents about the diverse topics we selected. The developers tried to include interesting topics which are relevant for anybody who wants to become a responsible citizen. Of course, individual students may find some topics more interesting or more familiar than others. Each student's aim should be to assess all information critically; this course will help them refine their critical thinking skills, not become a subject expert in the topics discussed. We hope students and lecturers will enjoy the course regardless which discipline they belong to and we feel confident that everyone will take something away from it.