UAF partners with edX to share Arctic courses, research globally

August 11, 2020

Marissa Carl-Acosta
907-455-2070

Photo by Sean Holland. Franz Meyer, left, records content for his course, Synthetic Aperture Radar: Hazards, which is now available via edX. Meyer, with support from UAF eCampus, has created the first massive open online course about remote sensing for disaster monitoring using synthetic aperture radar.
Photo by Sean Holland. Franz Meyer, left, records content for his course, Synthetic Aperture Radar: Hazards, which is now available via edX. Meyer, with support from UAF eCampus, has created the first massive open online course about remote sensing for disaster monitoring using synthetic aperture radar.


The University of Alaska Fairbanks has formed a partnership with edX, a trusted platform for learning, to increase access to courses that feature its Arctic research.

UAF joins Harvard, MIT and more than 100 other universities and companies that are already edX partners. More than 33 million learners, representing every country in the world, have enrolled in edX courses since its founding in 2012.

“UAF is excited to join the edX consortium and to more easily share our unique research expertise on climate, the Arctic and its peoples with edX’s global audience,” said UAF Chancellor Dan White.

Known as America’s Arctic university, UAF will offer courses and programs that have a focus on the circumpolar North and its diverse peoples.

Five courses will launch this fall:


  • Arctic Security Fundamentals

  • One Health: A Ten Thousand Year-Old View Into the Future

  • Remote Sensing of Wildfires

  • Salmon, People, and Place

  • Synthetic Aperture Radar: Hazards


UAF’s courses are four to eight weeks long. All edX courses are available for free, or learners can choose to pay for a certificate that verifies course completion.

edX is a leader among platforms that offer massive open online courses (commonly known as MOOCs). UAF chose to partner with edX because of its consortium model, nonprofit status and commitment to innovation and open education.

“I am excited to welcome University of Alaska, a top research institution in the study of the Arctic climate and peoples, to the edX partner community,” said Anant Agarwal, founder and CEO of edX. “We are thrilled that their first courses, ranging from health and safety to environmental studies and earth sciences, will be available to our global community of learners.”

UAF will be known as AlaskaX on the platform.

ON THE WEB: https://www.edx.org/school/alaskax