Web Science: How the Web is Changing the World

Over the next six weeks, we’ll be introducing you to web science step by step, looking at a variety of topics. There are also opportunities to test yourself along the way, to be sure it’s all sinking in properly.

This course provides a taster of the subject and we hope the topics we have chosen give you an insight into this fascinating emerging area.

You can access the course here: https://www.futurelearn.com/sign-in

We hope you will feel welcome to use the online discussions, not only to air your thoughts on the issues that we have raised, but also to ask questions if you’re struggling, and help other people if they are stuck. Remember that the aim of the discussions is to learn together, and not to have to present the correct answers in beautiful erudite English! In particular, please don't worry about your language skills if you are not a native speaker of English - we don't want any barriers to your contributions.

We have a team of educators and facilitators (many of whom have contributed videos and material to this course) who will be following the comments and discussions and helping to support the conversation, but please don't try to contact them personally via email as we won't be able to respond to you.

We are hoping learners will move together roughly in step in order to be able to support each other. However, you are also welcome to move faster or slower, if that fits in better with your available time.

We would be very grateful if you could take a few minutes to complete our pre-course survey so that we can learn more about your expectations: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/web_science_pre

 You’ll have the opportunity to purchase a Statement of Participation or Statement of Attainment for this course.

A Statement of Participation provides a physical record of your participation in the course. To be eligible for one, you must complete the majority of the steps and all of the test questions in the course - see https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/web-science-2014-q3/statement-of-participation

A Statement of Attainment provides proof of your understanding of the course and can serve as a good way to show evidence of Continuing Professional Development (CPD). To be eligible for one, you must book and pass an exam, which will take place at a physical test centre, under invigilated conditions, at the end of the course - see http://about.futurelearn.com/about/faq/?category=exams-and-statements-of-attainment

We will notify you when exam booking is open.

There is still time to invite friends and colleagues to enrol and take part alongside you. Having the support of learning with people you know can really enrich the experience of studying online. As a reminder, the course page where they can enrol can be found at:
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/web-science-2014-q3

If this is your first FutureLearn course, here is a short video guide on how it works:
https://www.futurelearn.com/about/how-it-works

If you have any queries or feedback in the meantime, we won’t personally be able to field them, but please take a look at FutureLearn’s extensive FAQs:
https://about.futurelearn.com/faq/

Best wishes,

Professor Les Carr and Professor Susan Halford
University of Southampton


Need support? Try our FAQs at http://about.futurelearn.com/about/faq
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