AGORA ONLINE COURSE 

Fundamentals of Information Literacy and Access to Global Online Research In Agriculture (AGORA) online course 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.

The AGORA (Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture) programme, set up by the FAO together with major publishers, enables low-income countries to gain free or low cost access to an outstanding digital collection in the fields of agriculture, forestry, fisheries, climate, food security and related sciences.

The e-course aims to deliver knowledge about the fundamentals of information literacy competencies and develop necessary skills to access and effectively use AGORA - a collection of up to 13,700 key journals and 26,900 e-books in the fields of food, agriculture, environmental science and related social sciences, - offered to more than 3,400 institutions in more than 115 eligible countries (Group A and Group B). AGORA is one of the five programmes that form Research4Life: AGORA, HINARI, OARE, ARDI and GOALI.

COURSE DESIGN 

The course is provided in English, French and Spanish (with a separate course for each language).

The course consists of two units including six lessons. 

• Lesson 1.1. Identifying Information Sources
• Lesson 1.2. Using Information Resources
• Lesson 1.3. Citing and Referencing

• Lesson 2.1. AGORA and Research4Life: Institutional framework
• Lesson 2.2. Search AGORA effectively
• Lesson 2.3: Using Summon (optional)

The course lasts two weeks having an assessment and evaluation at the end. Participants are expected to spend six hour weekly on average to complete readings and engage in programmed activities.

WHO CAN APPLY

The course is designed specifically to serve the needs of researchers, academics, research officers, librarians, IT specialists, other practitioners and students from:

• Research4Life eligible countries (Group A, Group B) and
• Types of eligible institutions:  including *national universities, *professional schools, *research institutes, *government offices, *national libraries, *agricultural extension centers and *local non-governmental organizations, -

and whose work or study is related to agricultural & related sectors, can apply to this course.

TAKEAWAYS

At the end of the course, the course participants should be able to :

1. Identify and evaluate information sources, develop search strategy, familiarize with search techniques

2. Understand ethical considerations in academia, gain skills in citing and referencing

3. Obtain deep knowledge about institutional framework of AGORA and Research4Life programmes, registration process for AGORA and terms of use

4. Access and search AGORA content effectively including browsing collections, applying advanced search techniques, using discovery service and bibliometric analytical tool

CERTIFICATION

Those who pass the end-of-course exam successfully will be awarded with a Certificate of Achievement.

COURSE EDITIONS: 

• 2019, Date to be announced (registration is open)
• 2019, 4 -15 February (English), 11 - 22 February (French), 18 February - 1 March (Spanish)
• 2018, 10 - 21 September
• 2018, 21 May - 3 June
• 2018, 29 January - 9 February
• 2017, 23 October - 5 November

Join for free AGORA discussion group on DGroups