Free online Dutch course reaches 300,000 participants!

The free Dutch Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) by the University of Groningen Language Centre has reached an impressive milestone: 300,000 participants worldwide have learned the basics of the Dutch language through this course. What once started as an initiative to familiarize future University of Groningen (UG) students and staff with Dutch has grown into an international success.

A pioneering start

In 2015, the Introduction to Dutch course was launched on the FutureLearn platform. Margriet Hidding, co-developer of the course, talks about its origins: ‘We wanted to offer foreign students and staff a low-threshold way to get acquainted with the Dutch language. It had to be a first step through which they could experience that Dutch may not be easy but definitely not impossible to learn. When we developed the MOOC, we were the first foreign language course on FutureLearn. That meant we were pioneers, because there were no examples we could fall back on. Together with colleagues Jeroen van Engen and Birgit Lijmbach, we put all of our experience and ideas into the course without knowing what to expect. Perhaps a couple of hundred participants?’

Nothing could be further from the truth. The first run immediately attracted nearly 35,000 registrations! Participations came from all corners of the world: future UG staff members, people with Dutch relatives or a Dutch partner, language enthusiasts, and also a lot of refugees who had just arrived in the Netherlands. ‘When we noticed how many refugees were using the course, we contacted the COA (Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers) and refugee foundation Stichting Vluchtelingenwerk. They now also refer people to our MOOC.’

A worldwide community

The MOOC quickly became a success. Participants indicated that they were booking real progress and understood the language better. ‘We give feedback to writing assignments and answer questions. I still enjoy doing it’, Margriet says. ‘The course has won prizes, which is great of course, but what moves me most is the community that has formed. In a world full of conflict, people help each other in this community, regardless of heritage or background. They all struggle with the question of whether a word should have “de” or “het” and they help each other understand.’

Sometimes, the stories are incredibly touching. ‘A Syrian refugee wrote: “I’m still in an emergency shelter and they don’t have Dutch lessons here yet, but through my phone I can already get started now.” It’s in those moments where you realize how valuable this work is.’

The future of the MOOC

Although the course does not attract the same amounts of participants as the first runs, the interest remains great. ‘Every time, a couple of thousand people are participating again’, Margriet says. ‘We have updated the course, but the basics remain the same. You don’t have to change what’s already good. There are still people all over the world who would like to learn Dutch and we are only too happy to help them with that.’

The University of Groningen Language Centre offers the course three times a year in February, August, and November. The next course will start on 24 February. All information can be found on the website.