MOOC

From a newborn children to a PhD candidates defending their dissertations, every person on this planet is actively engaged in the process of learning. The pursuit of education is both a privilege and a challenge that many are faced with. In the United States, almost anyone can receive a college education if they work hard enough. However, according to the American Student Assistance (ASA), upon graduating with a bachelor’s degree the average U.S. student will be about $26,000 in debt.*

For many, paying off a student loan and landing a solid job after graduation is good enough. But as we live in a society that is rapidly changing, transitioning everything online, and placing value in new and abstract ideas, many are trying to figure out how they can continue to expand upon their education.

What is an MOOC?
A recent revelation to the academic realm, companies promoting massive open online courses (MOOCs) have begun to increase in popularity. An MOOC is basically a free online course designed to accommodate unlimited participation and open access through the internet. In addition to traditional course materials such as videos and case studies, MOOCs provide interactive user forums that help build a community for students and their professors.

What kind of classes are available?
The major facilitators of free MOOCs, Coursera, Udacity and edX, boast a combined catalogue of over 1000 courses.* Anyone with an active internet connection can learn basic cooking skills, to advanced computer programming. While completion of a course does not earn a student college credit, the knowledge and skills acquired have proven invaluable for job seekers and those trying to stay on top of their respective fields.

What to expect?
Most MOOC courses typically require three to six hours of classwork a week, running four to eight weeks long.

Kyle Whittle, an executive at Qualtrics, estimates he has completed “about a dozen” free MOOCs through Coursera. He values his online learning experience because, “The vast majority of these courses are constructed and taught by real professors. In a 12-week period, I took classes through Duke, John Hopkins, the University of London, and even the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, If you put in the effort, there really is a lot to gain.”

What will be gained?
According Laura Pappano of the New York Times*, the MOOC community estimates that it is, “only at about five to ten percent” of where they want to be. Pappano expects the line between traditional on-campus classes and online alternatives to continue to blur as MOOCs continue to grow in popularity. She noted that many lower-level universities are close to accepting MOOC certificates for college credit.

Whittle also commented, “I might only have a certificate to show for it, but I learned skills in classes that were not currently offered (at my college) that will put me ahead of every single student (in my department) that I graduated with. You can’t put a price on that.”

Actually, you can. It was free.

 

*http://www.asa.org/policy/resources/stats/
*https://www.coursera.org/courses
*https://www.udacity.com/courses, https://www.edx.org/course-list
*http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/education/edlife/massive-open-online-courses-are-multiplying-at-a-rapid-pace.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0