Iowa Caucuses MOOC progressing nicely

I'm delighted to tell you that The MOOC on the Iowa Presidential caucuses is developing just as we hoped.

Our delivery platform will be Canvas. It is a terrific delivery system that is clean and has great usability. We will share some more information once wee mount our MOOC page. (Of course, the caucuses class will not actually open up until September and then it will be repeated several times for your convenience and pleasure!)

We are on schedule with or HD production company shooting interviews with a wide variety of interesting people who are providing excellent insights into the Iowa caucuses.

One of our experts is Raluca Cozma of the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State University. (Shown with Prof Schmidt in this picture)

She is an expert in the field of political communication and offers some very exciting insights into the process of Presidential candidate selection.

Her easily understandable but startling research findings will be of special significance for people in the communications media enrolled in the class.

Our excellent professional video team has been hard at work. we are using three HD cameras and two professional videographers and the full compliment of lighting and other equipment. The video interviews will be first class in content but also production value. The team is with B & G Productions http://www.bgvideoproductions.com/ (See picture Below)

We also conducted several other interviews which we will be sharing with you soon.

The project has also started rolling out an elaborate and very professional marketing initiative. This is designed to reach a large audience of people who would be interested in this Iowa Presidential caucuses class.

We have already heard from journalists, from professionals in the political consulting field, activist citizens from both major parties, and college students.

Many of the college students are excited about earning a certificate at the end of the MOOC and being able to include this innovative class on their résumé.

 One of the surprises in designing and now developing this MOOC is the attention to detail that is necessary to "get it 100% right." In the next picture Steffen Schmidt is getting some "remodeling" of the face and University of Northern Iowa Professor Chris Larimer, who was interviewed in this shoot at the Political Science department at UNI, is next in line for some video makeup.

We are VERY excited to share with you that Governor Terry Branstad has agreed to an interview and we will be picking his brain for the substantial insights of the longest serving governor (six terms) and a "two century" governor (he is serving now and served in the last century.)

Stay tuned for more to come.

In the meantime reserve your place for the FREE online class which will launch in September by going to our web site at:

https://www.iowacaucusesmooc.org/