The GODAN Action project has developed a free online course on ‘Open Data Management in Agriculture and Nutrition’. It has been designed to reach and train a higher number of participants, from a wide range of countries, who can use the online resources to study at a time and location convenient for them.

Upcoming course:

  • 19th November - 7th December 2018 (registration is now closed)

Previous courses:

Please do not hesitate to contact us at godanaction@godan.info for your questions and upcoming courses.

Course information

You can find the full published curriculum by clicking here.

This e-learning course is the result of a collaboration between GODAN Action partners, including Wageningen Environmental Research, AgroKnow, AidData, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR), and the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), the Land Portal, the Open Data Institute (ODI) and the Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation (CTA).

This online course aims to strengthen the capacity of data producers and data consumers to manage and use open data in agriculture and nutrition. One of the main learning objectives is for the course to be used widely within agricultural and nutrition knowledge networks, in different institutions. The course also aims to raise awareness of different types of data formats and uses, and to highlight how important it is for data to be reliable, accessible and transparent.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

  • Understand the principles and benefits of open data

  • Understand ethics and responsible use of data

  • Identify the steps to advocate for open data policies

  • Understand how and where to find open data

  • Apply techniques to data analysis and visualisation

  • Recognise the necessary steps to set up an open data repository

  • Define the FAIR data principles

  • Understand the basics of copyright and database rights

  • Apply open licenses to data

Course Design

The course is provided in English and lasts for four weeks. It consists of five units as follows including 18 lessons. Participants are expected to spend eight hours weekly on average to complete readings and engage in activities such as online tutorials and webinars. It is up to the participants how they schedule their time to go through the course but it is recommended to follow live activities and online tutorials in a timely manner.

The course is delivered through Moodle e-learning platform. Successful applicants are provided with a username and password to login to the system.

Course Assessment and Certification

Course participants are given short quizzes, assignments and more practical activities within the units. The course ends with a course exam and course evaluation survey. An attendance certificate is provided for those who actively participated in the course. Successful completion is defined as a 60% success rate in the course exam. Certificates can only be provided electronically.

Who should apply?

The course is open to infomediaries which includes ICT workers, technologist - journalists, communication officers, librarians and extensionists; policy makers, administrators and project managers, and researchers, academics and scientists working in the area of  agriculture, nutrition, weather and climate, and land data.