Australian university releases MOOC on beating addiction
The University of Adelaide in Australia launched a massive open online course (MOOC) on addiction last week on the edX platform. The five-week course, Managing Addiction: A Framework for Successful Treatment, examines why it is difficult to change addictive behaviour, how addicts can be treated, and how different countries around the world approach the problem. "It is an ideal starting-point for healthcare professionals who want to get to grips with potentially effective approaches to treating addiction, and need tools to make critical decisions," the university says.

The University of Adelaide will launch a massive open online course (MOOC) on addiction this week on the edX platform. The five-week course, Managing Addiction: A Framework for Successful Treatment, examines why it is difficult to change addictive behaviour, how addicts can be treated, and how different countries around the world approach the problem.

It also explores a "recovery pathway" designed to help addicts recover, offering a pathway through the screening of likely addicts, and their assessment, their withdrawal phase and relapse prevention.

"It is an ideal starting-point for healthcare professionals who want to get to grips with potentially effective approaches to treating addiction, and need tools to make critical decisions," the university says.

New online course shows the way to overcoming addiction. Artem Furman

The university says a background in healthcare could be helpful to students in the course but it has no formal prerequisites. The courses is estimated to take two to three hours a week and starts on October 8.

In other news, Princeton University has joined edX, the MOOC provider founded by Harvard and MIT. An Ivy League university, Princeton is late to the party, with edX having been formed over three years ago. Its first MOOCs will be Making government work in hard places and The art of structural engineering: bridges.

Each week MOOC Watch brings you the latest news of online courses and digital education.