Digital Learning

A grid of images suggesting people writing, reading, using laptops to work, and joining a Zoom call for a conversation.
Lower left image by wocintechchat.com.

The IWP’s Digital Learning Program offers a year-round program of online courses, exchanges, and events whose goal is to encourage worldwide cultural and creative exchange—the IWP’s principal mission. Virtual courses and projects bring American and international writers together to explore themes of common interest with accomplished creative writing instructors. Exchanges offer groups of writers and artists opportunities to collaborate on new work and to build new communities across regional and cultural distance. Live-streamed events offer international access to readings and performances. While fiction, poetry, and nonfiction workshops form the backbone of online offerings, the Digital Learning program also aims to provide opportunities for academic discussion about topics in contemporary world literature.

Since 2012, the Digital Learning Program has offered over 50 distinct MOOCs, courses and projects, exchanges, and events which have provided participants creative space to form new international communities in the exploration of writing fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and plays; the craft of photography and other multimedia projects; and the analysis of a diverse selection of literatures. Digital Learning Program offerings have enrolled over 95,000 people from 197 countries.

To begin browsing Digital Learning programming, please see the right-hand menu.

OUTREACH COURSES

Outreach courses are developed in coordination with international institutions for small groups of students in a specific set of cities or countries.

EXCHANGES AND EVENTS

Exchanges provide space for creative collaboration between rising writers and artists in far-flung communities. Events offer virtual access to creative voices around the world.

MOOC Syllabi

Supported by the United States Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the University of Iowa, each IWP MOOC (2012-2019) was designed to provide global access to creative writing education and cultural exchange.

The MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) syllabi include a MOOC’s core content, and extra instructional materials. Using these syllabi, anyone can lead a writing class or a study group.

CRAFT TALKS LIBRARY

To join our mailing list to receive notifications regarding future courses, please fill out the sign up form here.

For inquiries about the Digital Learning Program, please email us by selecting "Digital Learning courses"  from the drop-down menu on our contact form here >

 

Happening Now

  • Congratulations to our colleagues Jennifer Croft and Aron Aji, who are among those serving as judges for the National Book Awards this year, in their case in the category of translated literature.

  • Ranjit Hoskote’s speech at the 2024 Goa Literary Festival addresses the current situation in Gaza.

  • In NY Times, Bina Shah worries about the state of Pakistani—and American—democracy.

  • “I went to [Ayodhya] to think about what it means to be an Indian and a Hindu... ”  A new essay by critic and novelist Chandrahas Choudhury.

  • In the January 2024 iteration of the French/English non-fiction site Frictions, T J Benson writes about “Riding Afrobeats Across the World.” Also new, a next installment in the bilingual series featuring work by students from Paris VIII’s Creative Writing program and the University of Iowa’s NFW program.

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