What are MOOCs?
MOOC stands for Massive Open Online Course and the term was first introduced in 2008 at the University of Manitoba during a course called “Connectivism and Connective Knowledge” that was presented to 25 tuition-paying students in Extended Education as well as brought to 2300 additional students from the general public who took the online class free of charge.
In short, a MOOC is a free (in most cases) way for everyone to access knowledge and educative resources directly from the web, this is an online course that is aimed at large-scale interactive participation and open access via the web. It is important though to emphasize that Massive Open Online Courses don’t always lead to formal qualifications but they allow anyone who wants to take the online course to gain valuable knowledge about a topic in order to support their professional careers or to help them achieve their personal learning goals. With absolutely no entry requirements, anyone can freely take part in any MOOCs they are interested in regardless of where they live in the world or of their financial resources.
You can learn more about the theory behind MOOCs by watching the video below which explains well what this is all about.
This course structure has become increasingly popular since they first emerged and has been adopted by a growing number of universities wordlwide as well as by private organisations and non-profit institutions. Many of the most prestigious universities have launched their own free and open online course programmes such as the MIT, Stanford University, Yale University and many more.
Following this trend, 2012 has been the “year of the MOOC” and has seen the development of MOOC well-financed providers that are associated with the top universities and therefore host their online courses materials.
MOOC providers and University partners
The big three MOOC priders are Coursera, Udacity, and edX
Profile: For-profit MOOC provider with Stanford roots
Number of active courses: 341
Number of university partners: 62
Certificates: Yes, some instructors offer signed certificates of completion, but not from the university.
- Statement of accomplishment- Students may be awarded a statement acknowledging their completion of the class.
- Certificate of completion – Certificate deliverd by Coursera given to students who take, complete and pass an exam.
Subject areas:
- Biology & Life Sciences
- Business & Management
- Computer Science
- Economics & Finance
- Education
- Electrical & Materials Engineering
- Food & Nutrition
- Health and Society & Media Ethics
- Humanities
- Information technology & Design
- Law
- Mathematics
- Medicine
- Music, Film & Audio Engineering
- Physical & Earth Sciences
- Social Sciences
- Statistics & Data Analysisy and Harvard University
Profile: For-profit MOOC provider with Stanford roots but no university affiliation.
Number of active courses: 24
Number of university partners: 5
Certificates: Yes, certificates can be given according to academic performance: completion, distinction, high distinction, highest distinction.
- Certificate of mastery – Mastery points are earned when you complete certain questions correctly in a course.
- Certificate of completion - Certificate given to students who have achieved at least level 1 mastery in a course.
Subject areas:
- Biology & Life Sciences
- Business & Management
- Computer Science
- Mathematics
- Physical & Earth Sciences
- Statistics & Data Analysisy and Harvard University
Profile: Non profit MOOC provider created by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University.
Number of active courses: 33
Number of university partners: 19
Certificates: Yes, two certificates available, one designating an honor code, one a proctored exam and both bear the edX and campus name
- Proctored certificate- Certificate given to students who take and pass an exam under proctored conditions.
- Honor-code certificate – Certificte given to students who have completed all of the necessary online coursework associated with a course and have signed the edX honor code .
Subject areas:
- Biology & Life Sciences
- Computer Science
- Electrical & Materials Engineering
- Health and Society & Media Ethics
- History
- Law
- Mathematics
- Physical & Earth Sciences
MOOCs in the corporate world
There are litterally hundreds of other MOOCS providers you can choose to take free online courses with. However apart from the big three detailed above, they are not associated with any university programmes which in any cases makes the resources less interesting or valuable from a user perspectives. Whether you want to learn how to code, understand SEO or dig into subject areas you like you can reast assured you will find an online course that will meet your needs and interests.
There is basically find online courses for anything you are interested in and providing free MOOCs feature many advantages for both the people who want to take online courses and the well-financed organisations that host and provide them. Whether the benefits provided by free online courses are obvious for the student or the user, from an organisation point of view, MOOCs are a great way to attract talents form the wider world and is also a valuable tool to develop talents within the very same organisation.
Here is below just a few examples of websites that offer MOOCs in subject areas that are not covered by the big three providers. This is a non -exhaustive list but we believe it is a good starting point for anyone in the lookout of free online courses. Feel free to drop a line in the comment box in order to improve this list.
Udemy is for anyone who wants to learn about web development, entrepreneurship, yoga or photography.
Code Academy is for anyone who wants to learn how to code, to create interactive websites, fun games, and killer apps.
Khan Academy is for anyone who wants to learn how to code, to create interactive websites, fun games, and killer apps.
Duolingo is for anyone who wants to learn foreign languages.
Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net
