Call for Applications for free AGORA Online (English) Course is now open!

©FAO/Daniel Hayduk / FAO

AGORA Team is pleased to offer AGORA  (Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture) Online Course again in English. AGORA is one of the five programmes of Research4Life. The online course entitled AGORA : Fundamentals of Information Literacy and Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture is provided by the Partnerships and South-South Cooperation Division (DPS) at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN), in collaboration with Research4Life.
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GOAL
The goal of this course is to enhance agricultural research in developing countries by supporting access to peer-reviewed literature in the fields of food, agriculture, environmental science and related social sciences. The course aims to provide information about the fundamentals of information literacy competencies and develop necessary skills to access and effectively use AGORA (Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture) digital collection with up to 10,000 key journals and 26,500 e-books providing full-text to more than 3,400 institutions in more than 115 countries. Through a Research4Life joint launch page, AGORA users can also access information resources (total: up to 81,000) from other four Research4Life programmes (Hinari,OARE, ARDI, GOALI).

AGORA Online Course is provided in English. The course lasts for two weeks and requires for 6 hours time commitment on average per week. It consist of two units and 5 lessons:

Unit 1: Identify, Access and Use Information Resources
Lesson 1: Identifying information sources
Lesson 2: Using information resources
Lesson 3: Citing and referencing
Unit 2: Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture (AGORA)
Lesson 2.1: AGORA and Research4Life: Institutional framework
Lesson 2.2: Search AGORA effectively

TAKEAWAYS
At the end of the course, participants attending the course will be able to:

• Identify and evaluate information sources, develop search strategy, familiarize with search techniques;
• Understand ethical considerations in academia, gain skills in citing and referencing;
• Obtain deep knowledge about institutional framework of AGORA and Research4Life programmes, registration process for AGORA and terms of use;
• Access and search AGORA content effectively including browsing collections, applying advanced search techniques, using discovery service and bibliometric analytical tool.

TARGET AUDIENCE
The course is designed specifically to serve the needs of researchers, academics, research officers, librarians, IT specialists, other practitioners and students. Anyone working or studying in agricultural and related sciences  from Research4Life eligible countries and eligible type of institutions can apply for the course.
Priority is given to applicants from Research4Life eligible countries, Group A and Group B respectively.

REGISTRATION
Online registration form is open until  13 May 2018, Sunday 23:00 CEST.
IMPORTANT DATES

For your questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected].