Kansas State University has announced that a health and wellness course will be its first “massive open online course.”

The school joins dozens of leading universities that have begun offering free, digital versions of their most popular courses. The so-called MOOCs allow tens of thousands of students to take a class at the same time. But dropout rates often hover around 90 percent.

The Kansas State course will teach about the changes that can be made to improve health, physical fitness and overall well-being. The first cycle of the course will be taught Oct. 6 to Nov. 15, with content remaining open to students until Dec. 12.

Assistant human nutrition professor Linda Yarrow says the class format encourages instructors to be creative and innovative in their educational offerings.