UOL Development Projects

New online courses under development as a result of participant feedback. You can suggest courses even if you haven't participated before and then take part in that new course for free.

Project One: "How can the World survive? Or even our community?"

Albert Schweitzer, in his time, researched to find what would save the World at the time of the development of the atom bomb and the and its use. His book was called Ethics and Civilisation. Could it still be relevant to out times? More recently, Peter Singer, in his book, "One World - The Ethics of Globalisation". Singer addresses vital issues (e.g., climate-change, human rights, globalisation,) from an ethical perspective and offers alternatives to the state-centric approach that characterizes international theory and relations today. Posing a bold challenge to narrow or nationalistic views, Singer presents a realistic, new way of looking at contemporary global issues―through a prism of ethics. There is something about "ethics" that seems important to our way of thinking for a better World. We will assume no previous knowledge and explore ethics as they relate to morals and see how we might be able to fix the World, well, at least our local community for a start.

Project Two: Why do people feel lost in life?

Despite the huge advancements in modern life, we access so much than ever before, however, more people feel disconnected and lost. This is not a new condition. Distractions abound but it is rarely confronted. The recognition that identity, purpose and certainty are fragile constructs. Social media rather than connecting isolates. We are in a constant flood of information, data and achievement. There is a silent despair. No amount of external success will fill such a void. What is the essence to be human? This course introduces existential thinking in a practical way. Rather than asking "What can we get from life?", we change the perspective to "What can we give to life!"