A dynamic educational initiative in the form of a massive open online course – or MOOC – on ecological toxicology was officially started by Shanxi University, according to officials.

MOOC is a comparatively recent trend in distance learning. A massive open online course is a free web-based distance learning program that is designed for the participation of large numbers of geographically dispersed students.

University officials said the new MOOCfor ecological toxicology was presented by Meng Ziqiang, Zhang Quanxi and other teachers from SXU’s Institute of Environmental Science – and officially started on its website on Oct 14.

Ecological toxicology is a basic specialty course for the environment, ecology and environmental ecological engineering majors.

Meng Ziqiang, a SXU teacher, is the editor in chief of the textbook used in this course.

According to SXU authorities the textbook was reformulated -- on the basis of previous textbooks -- and contains the latest research, progress and achievements in scientific research and teaching in ecotoxicology to have taken place in recent years.