Have you tried the "new" Moocs?

Mooc is an acronym for Massive Open Online Course. Moocs get the Massive part of the name from the number of students attending courses from around the world. Quite often the attendance numbers can climb into the tens of thousands of students.

They became very popular first back in 2012 when the mooc explosion happened. The traditional press coverage helped with the explosion. At the time, there were many different platforms offering a multitude of courses. There are still just as many moocs, if not more, being offered today. Most courses are offered by university professors and/or well-known expert professionals. The quality of the course material is usually very good with a lot of production time put in to polish the material.

Mooc Platforms?

The moocs or courses are provided through online platforms. All the platforms provide access through a regular web browser and usually require only a simple account creation. The platforms the moocs are delivered through vary greatly in the tools they provide for the online courses. Most platforms at have at least a video lecture followed by assignments to be completed. Within each platform there is also usually a forum where students can post questions and communicate with the other students and instructors.

Why “New” moocs?

I mention “new” moocs in the title because the platforms themselves have already evolved through trial and error. The most noticeable enhancement being rolled out is better tracking of the material you have covered in a course. For example, if you have watched a video, very often the video will show a progress bar or some indication that it has been watched. Changes like this really help you keep track of where you are in the course material. This functionality is especially useful when you have been away from your mooc for a few days.

Most moocs provide a certificate of completion of some kind. Some platforms also offer a premium to have a certified certificate provided. Certified or not, these completion achievements have started to appear on resumes and social media profiles.

Why Moocs Now?

Why talk about moocs now after the explosion has already happened? Well, I write this to encourage you to jump in and take a course. There are many which can help your business and some may be just a fun distraction for you. Had I taken, Technology Entrepreneurship from Stanford about a year earlier, I could possibly have avoided some real life start-up mistakes.

Favourite Mooc Platforms

Here are some of our favourite mooc platforms offering a plethora of courses. Discover something new and enjoy. If you have a favourite mooc platform, please leave a note in the comments.

novoed.com
www.udacity.com
www.coursera.org
iversity.org

 

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