Understanding and Communicating Risk

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Free Online Course: Understanding and Communicating Risk provided by edX is a comprehensive online course, which lasts for 6 weeks long, 3-5 hours a week. The course is taught in English and is free of charge. Upon completion of the course, you can receive an e-certificate from edX. Understanding and Communicating Risk is taught by Olivia Jensen, Chan Ghee Koh, Leonard Lee, Carolyn Lo, Catherine Wong and Daniel Catalan.

Overview
  • This course provides an introduction to how people perceive and understand risks in their everyday lives and how to communicate risk information to help people make better decisions.

    Taught by an experienced team from the LRF Institute for the Public Understanding of Risk at the National University of Singapore, supplemented by interviews with leading international experts in the field, the course is designed to be accessible to professionals, practitioners, researchers and tertiary students involved or interested in risk communication.

    The Understanding and Communicating Risk course makes extensive use of case studies to bring the issues to life and shows how fundamental concepts and research findings can be employed to practical challenges of risk communication. Learners on the course are given opportunities to apply their learning through engaging exercises based on real-world cases.

Syllabus
  • Week 1: Key concepts

    Introduction to risk, uncertainty, cumulative risk, key metrics of risk assessment and identification of risks.

    Week 2: Risk perceptions

    Factors that shape public perceptions of risk.

    Week 3. Risk communication

    Covers the range of objectives, approaches, channels and message framings.

    Week 4: Health

    Risk perception and communication in the field of public health.

    Week 5: Climate & environment

    Risk perception and communication relating to climate change, natural hazards and environmental pollution.

    Week 6: Technology

    Applications of risk perceptions and communications concepts to cases of new and established technologies.

    Week 7: Individual project