Congratulations to Associate Professor Kerry Wilkinson, Dr Cassandra Collins, Dr David Jeffery and Associate Professor Paul Grbin, the team responsible for the School of Agriculture, Food and Wine’s AdelaideX MOOC, dubbed ‘Wine101x’. Wine101x has just won the Government, Education and Non-Profit category of the 2015 South Australian Interactive Media Excellence Awards.
Wine101x: World of Wine: From Grape to Glass is a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), delivered worldwide via the edX platform (www.edx.org). First launched in April 2015 as a 6-week course, it comprises interactive media and e-learning resources delivered online, for free, with no pre-requisites. Through the wonders of the internet, Kerry and the team shared their expertise and passion for ‘all-things-wine’, to give more than 18,000 participants from over 160 countries an appreciation for the principles and practices that underpin grape and wine production, and their impacts on wine style and sensory properties (with an unashamedly Australian flavour). The course encompassed short video lectures from Kerry, Paul, Cas and Dave, video interviews with industry professionals, interactive activities such as a virtual winemaking app, discussion forums and several assessment tasks to evaluate learning.
By popular demand, Wine101x was released again in June 2015 in self-paced mode, with more than 30,000 total enrolments to date.
The SA Interactive Media Excellence Awards recognise the work of local digital innovators in categories including health, government and education, and lifestyle and entertainment.
In addition, Wine101x is now a finalist for the Best Wine Educator award from Wine Communicators of Australia – to be announced at a ceremony in Sydney on 10 November. The WCA awards “recognise outstanding contribution to, and excellence in, wine communication in all its forms”.
The success of the first MOOC has prompted Kerry, Paul, Cas and Dave to start thinking about Wine201x. “There was a good deal of interest from learners around wine tasting, so the next course may contain online wine appreciation classes and themed virtual tastings, Kerry said.
In the meantime, cellar door staff, marketers, accountants, vintage casuals and anyone else interested in learning about grapes and wines can still take the award-winning online course, Wine101x.