IOI Canada’s latest online course, An Ocean in Crisis: Key Governance Issues, was delivered from 14th April – 29th May. Interest continues to be high for this type of training, particularly with the opportunity to choose between synchronous and asynchronous participation. This latter study option enables busy professionals to progress through the material at their own pace, fitting it around other responsibilities at work or home, regardless of time zone or internet reliability.
This year’s training programme explored critical aspects of ocean governance in the context of the impending UN Ocean Conference in early June. Through a combination of lectures, discussions, readings, videos and assignments, the 14 webinar-style sessions examined key challenges and opportunities in Law of the Sea and Ocean Governance; Ocean Threats and Solutions; Fisheries, Aquaculture and Food Security; and Human Security and the Ocean. Check out the Training section of IOI Canada’s website for the course schedule and list of 15 speakers, who provided their perspectives from a broad range of backgrounds and disciplines.
This interdisciplinary nature of the course attracted participants from diverse sectors, backgrounds and organisations, and there was global representation from 44 countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, North and South America, and the South Pacific. The live class was capped at 30 to encourage interaction and discussion, but over 100 more participants registered for the self-paced study stream – and all were invited to join the course WhatsApp group to encourage networking, sharing and peer-learning. Although the live webinars have now wrapped up and certificates are winging their way around the world, additional time is provided to enable everyone to complete the recordings, related materials and assignments on their own schedule. With several keen participants on track to finish in the coming weeks, certificates will continue to be issued for a while!