Program Overview

Program Overview

The "Personal Risk Reduction In Insecure Contexts" course is designed to provide guidance, tools, and resources to organize travel in potentially insecure contexts. The aim is to raise awareness about personal safety and security and to promote safe behavior fitting with specific travel contexts.

Course Description

Every day, education, research, and academic cooperation move thousands of students, researchers, professors, and staff to various destinations and for various purposes. Promoting students' and staff safety during mobility programs is a priority for universities. Building institutional relations with reliable partners and designing institutional security plans is crucial but not exhaustive. Individual preparation is also essential.

Learning Mode and Language

The course is offered as a single course, and the language of instruction is English.

Target Audience

The target audience for this course is MOOCs for Researchers.

Subject and Length

The subject of the course is Health & Safety, and it spans 4 weeks.

European Qualifications Framework Level

The course is classified at the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) level 5.

Thematic Area

The thematic area of the course is classified under the ISCED-F classification as 0314 Sociology and cultural studies, 0999 Health and welfare not elsewhere classified, and 0312 Political sciences and civics.

Licence

All rights are reserved, except where otherwise stated.

Intended Learning Outcomes

By actively participating in this MOOC, learners will be able to:

• Define "insecure contexts" and understand the role universities and other institutions play during travel.
• Identify the main steps to organize travel, tips, and suggestions on how to move around safely in the host country.
• Explain the tools to make a basic analysis of travel and personal characteristics to assess risks and design a personal safety strategy.
• Conduct a basic contextual and institutional analysis of the historical track record of security and the geopolitical situation of the destination.
• Identify information security issues and appropriate technologies related to local environmental issues.
• Identify how to deal with main health issues and disorders related to climate, food, and drinks, people, and environment.
• Identify "lessons learnt" from real-life examples.

Prerequisites

No prerequisite knowledge is required for this course.

Activities

Learners will have the opportunity to discuss course topics and share ideas with peers in the course forum. The forum is freely accessible, and participation is not guided.

Course Outline

The course is structured into the following sections:

• Week 0: Introduction
• Week 1: Travel policies
• Week 2: Awareness and behaviors
• Week 3: Health issues
• Week 4: Case studies
• Additional Resources

Assessment

The final grade for the course will be based on the results of answers to assessed quizzes. Learners have an unlimited number of attempts at each quiz but must wait 15 minutes before retrying. Successful completion of the course requires scoring 60% or higher in each assessed quiz.

Certificate

Learners can achieve a certificate in the form of an Open Badge for this course by reaching at least 60% of the total score in each assessed quiz and filling in the final survey.

Fees and Access

The course is absolutely free of charge and completely online.

Course Faculty

The course faculty includes:

• Alessandra Scagliarini
• Marco Balboni
• Alessandra Bonoli
• Rabih Chattat
• Carmelo Danisi
• Maria Pia Fantini
• Licia Proserpio
• Magda Ialonardi
• Livia Mercatelli
• Angelo Stefanini
• Francesca Valente
• Paolo Zagaglia

Total Workload

The total workload of the course is 25 hours.