September has been a busy month for Columbia University with the release of four unique, and exciting, massive open online courses (MOOCs). Take a look:

Two Sustainability MOOCs with Jeffrey Sachs

Columbia Professor Jeffrey Sachs released two new sustainability MOOCs on the Coursera platform. One is a self-paced course using Coursera’s new on-demand courses: “Introduction to Sustainable Development" (5 hours of self-paced videos and quizzes) and "The Age of Sustainable Development" (a 14 week interactive learning experience) explore the key challenges and pathways to sustainable development through an examination of economic development that is socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable. Jeffrey Sachs serves as Director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, as well as Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development and Health Policy and Management.

A Business and Economics SPOC with Perry G. Merhling

Professor Perry G. Mehrling's MOOC on Coursera has been turned into a SPOC (small private online course) for his students in his fall 2014 Barnard course. This private re-run of the two-part course allows Mehrling to experiment with a flip of his classroom. The Economics of Money and Banking course introduces students to a “money view” of economic activity for modern times, building on the intellectual traditions of British central banking and American institutionalism. Part One explores the economics of payment systems and money markets. Part Two explores connections with foreign exchange and capital markets. Perry G. Mehrling is a Professor of Economics at Columbia University's Barnard College.

A New History MOOC with Eric Foner

Last but not least, Columbia Professor Eric Foner and CCNMTL launched Columbia’s first MOOC series on the edX platform: "The Civil War and Reconstruction" a three-part series based on Professor Foner’s very popular course at Columbia University. The 27 week series challenges students to examine the politics of history and investigate themes that are still very present in our national dialogue. Professor Foner's MOOC series is also notable because it has been released with a Creative Commons license allowing anyone, anywhere, to repurpose and reuse all of the course materials (videos, transcripts, quizzes, etc.) for non-commercial use — more on that in this article on enhancED. Eric Foner is a Pulitzer-Prize-winning historian, and the DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University.

Read more about the release of this MOOC:
Openculture.com
Chronicle of Higher Education
History News Network.

Also, follow @cwrMOOC on twitter, and join the conversation:

“Foner is a rock star...” says @jryoung from the @chronicle | read the article here: https://t.co/4wufa6iQux @edX... https://t.co/cf2UY4PyIP

— Eric Foner Civil War (@cwrMOOC) September 23, 2014

Eric Foner’s free online course “A House Divided: The Road to Civil War, 1850-1861” starts tomorrow @cwrMOOC https://t.co/iyEcfQKckv

— NY Review of Books (@nybooks) September 16, 2014