The UF Levin College of Law introduced an online course available across the globe last May, and now a new crop of students will get the same opportunity.
On Jan. 26, the college will relaunch The Global Student’s Introduction to U.S. Law, its massive open online course. The eight-week course is available for free to anyone in the world with Internet access.
More than 19,000 people registered last summer, said Pedro Malavet, a UF law professor. He said he was surprised at their engagement.
“The students would ask for more,” Malavet said. “They wanted more lectures.”
Coursera, the online platform, reached students in 173 countries, he said.
“This is a way of getting the University of Florida out there,” Malavet said.
The course will cover the U.S. legal system and give an introduction to criminal law.
Registration will remain open throughout the term.
Alyson Flournoy, the associate dean of academic affairs at the law school, said the class functions as a public service.
“It was a very exciting opportunity for our faculty to interact with an international student body that was diverse in every way imaginable,” Flournoy said.
[A version of this story ran on page 9 on 1/23/2015 under the headline “Law college reopens free online course"]
