In Fall 2025, the Lifelong Learning team within the Office of Alumni Engagement and Development (AED) partnered with the Center for Teaching and Learning’s (CTL) Learning Experience Design (LXD) team to create an online educational experience for university alumni using one of Duke’s newest Coursera courses: Climate Science for Everyone.
As part of Duke’s mission to expand access to education and promote lifelong learning, the university has a long-standing partnership with the open online course platform Coursera. The CTL’s LXD team collaborates with Duke faculty, staff, and researchers to translate their teaching and expertise into engaging online learning opportunities, including Coursera. Coursera learners from across the globe then access these online, self-paced courses to gain new skills and explore diverse fields at their convenience.
Taught by the Nicholas School of the Environment’s Prasad Kasibhatla, Professor of Environmental Chemistry, Climate Science for Everyone explores the causes and impacts of climate change and empowers people of all ages, educational levels, jobs, and interests to consider how climate change affects their own communities and careers.
Kasibhatla shared, “What was obviously valuable for me was the ability to reach more people with my message about climate science.”
Ann Stephenson, Director of Professional Development and Xavier Larkin, Senior Program Coordinator at AED’s Lifelong Learning team were key to organizing this cohort experience.
Stephenson said Climate Science for Everyone was chosen for both how its material is designed to be understandable without previous knowledge as well as its evidence-based approach.
“The curriculum breaks down complex scientific concepts into digestible modules without oversimplifying the science,” Stephenson said. “It also emphasizes both understanding and action, which aligned well with our goal of empowering alumni not just to learn about climate change, but to feel equipped to engage with it constructively.”
Rather than being fully self-paced, the alumni course was structured as a cohort, creating a shared space where participants could learn together and benefit from a more collaborative learning experience. Each week for four weeks, about 60 actively participating alumni worked through a module of the course on their own time, then gathered together through Zoom for two synchronous learning opportunities: a question and answer session with Kasibhatla and then guest speakers, which featured alumni working in climate.
Planning the course
To ensure that the Climate Science for Everyone alumni experience was relevant and engaging for Duke alumni, AED’s Lifelong Learning team worked with the CTL for eight months.
“The primary goal in creating an alumni cohort around Climate Science for Everyone was to build a shared foundation of climate literacy while also strengthening alumni connections,” Stephenson said. “We wanted to create a space where alumni could engage deeply with climate science, ask questions openly, and connect the science to their personal and professional lives.”
Further goals that guided our design team were to:
- Engage alumni in discussions about climate change relevant to their lives, demonstrating Duke’s prioritization of climate education
- Strengthen participants’ connections to the Duke community and alumni network
- Introduce alumni to Coursera, so they can utilize the resource to enable lifelong learning
These goals were reflected in the course design. For example, the live sessions provided additional learning opportunities for learners to see how learning about climate science is career relevant and interact directly with a Duke professor and other alumni. Additionally, at the end of the course, learners were provided with suggestions about how they could continue learning on Coursera for free with Duke.
We wanted to mirror the inclusive nature of the course content and discussion design with how the course functioned through accessible design practices. What this meant for this course was paying attention to digital accessibility throughout the design of every course component — videos, course documents like syllabi, and using captions in Zoom meetings. Our teams worked together to ensure course materials followed best practices such as:
- Using headings on web pages to correctly organize information
- Sharing links through meaningful link text
- Providing instructions to learners to request accommodations, if needed
Following best practices like these enables all learners to participate and feel welcome in the course. Online courses like those on Coursera also have built-in accessibility benefits, such as the ability to review video lectures as many times as a learner needs to understand the content.
Engaging with the alumni community
Alumni joined the program based on their varying experiences and interests.
For instance, Duke alumna Rebecca Beavers, Ph.D., ‘99, had recently participated in the Duke Billions to Trillions Summit, which inspired her to connect with other Duke alumni on climate change concerns. A retired federal employee, Beavers had employed her geological training from Duke on projects that engaged with climate change, such as coastal geology and coastal climate adaptation programs for the U.S. National Park Service and policy work at the Department of Transportation.
“When I decided to retire early, courses like this one took me back to the basic fundamentals of climate science and helped me more fully ground my understanding in the current literature,” Beavers said. “Discussions with fellow alumni helped me connect with the non-federal sector and, honestly, take a course that was enjoyable at a critical time in our country’s history.”
Alumnus Rich Herbst, B.S.E., ‘88, joined the course to supplement his initial Duke education in electrical engineering with climate science knowledge to help his current career. In April 2025, Herbst returned to Duke as the Senior Director of Alumni Industry and Professional engagement, and a goal of this role has been to build alumni industry groups that are aligned with the priorities of the Duke Campaign: Climate and Sustainability, Health and Technology.
“So, one of my main goals in joining the cohort for this class was to increase my knowledge in the foundational issues, and proposed solutions, for the climate challenges we face today,” he said. “ In gaining this knowledge, I hoped to become a more informed leader for the Duke Alumni in Climate and Sustainability group, which I launched in August [2025].”
The design of the course helped create a community of intergenerational and interdisciplinary alumni who brought diverse perspectives to the discussion, Larkin and Stephenson said.
“Their participation reflected a strong sense of knowing and belonging: they wanted to ensure that what they were asking was meaningful, and that the material they engaged with would support them as they move into the foreseeable future with the practical takeaways provided,” Larkin said.
Beavers highlighted that this environment created “a sense of optimism that people truly care about climate change and are concerned about how we are impacting our air, lands, and waters,” and emphasized how the addition of the guest speakers to the alumni experience enriched the course content.
“The work that alumni speakers came to highlight showed so much innovation and unique ways to apply the science to societal problems,” Beavers said.
Herbst also found learning about the “solutions and innovations” to climate change interesting, as well as other components of the course material, including the historical perspective on climate change.
“The knowledge I’ve gained on the causes of climate change, and the efforts required to keep our carbon footprint in check, will hopefully make me a better steward of the earth’s environment,” he said.
Recognizing the impact
By the end of the cohort, many alumni had completed the course — but the impact of the course went beyond earning a certificate.
Stephenson and Larkin saw evidence throughout the program that participants were learning together.
“Participants demonstrated increased confidence in discussing climate science topics and often connected course content to their own fields and communities,” Stephenson said. “Additionally, the shared experience of moving through the material together strengthened relationships among participants. The cohort model created accountability and community, which enhanced both engagement and retention.”
Larkin said that the original goals of the teams were “exceeded for this inaugural private alumni cohort. Each participant was engaged, enthusiastic, and eager, bringing thoughtful questions, real-world perspectives, and a genuine passion for climate science.”
For Herbst, the experience has encouraged him to continue his lifelong learning journey with Duke, especially when programs with other alumni are offered.
“I would recommend this to all alums. It’s really a great way to engage with the Duke alumni community, to learn together and share relevant perspectives and experiences,” he said.
Beavers agreed that reengaging with Duke was a meaningful experience and helps alumni “to continue your education at more stages in your life” and shared about the possibilities learning can provide.
“The most valuable takeaway from this experience was that we can all make a difference when we care enough to inform ourselves about important topics like climate change,” she said. “After a career focused on climate change adaptation and policy, I am amazed at the innovative work that is underway in finance, energy, mitigation, engineering, and more.”
Learn More
Are you interested in taking the public version of the Climate Science for Everyone Coursera course?
If you’re a Duke staff, faculty, student member or a Duke alumni, you can sign-up through Coursera for Duke or Coursera for Duke alumni programs to take the course for free on Coursera.
If you’re not affiliated with Duke, please view the public Climate Science for Everyone link. This is the first course in the series Healthcare Leadership for Climate Change, if you’re interested in diving further into climate education.
You can learn more about the work of the Lifelong Learning Team’s work by exploring Duke’s Forever Learning Institute and the Forever Learning Summer Academy.
This blog was planned, drafted, and edited with contributions from Xavier Larkin, Ann Stephenson, and Michael Hudson.
