Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)
- is an acronym for Massive Open Online Course.
- The word “massive” means large number or amount, “open” means accessible to all, “online”
means connected to or available through a system, and “course” means the act of moving in a
path from point to point. T
- It refers to a route or pattern of getting a content or information available through an online
system that can be accessed by many people.
- It is also described as a pattern for providing learning information or content online to any
person who needs to take up a course with no limit on attendance.
- They are asynchronous web-based courses geared towards enabling several hundreds of
students all over the world to enroll and learn from top world-renowned academic institutions
at the same time.
- they deliver content via recorded video lectures, online readings, and online assessments, with
various degrees of student-student and student-instructor interactions.
- Many MOOC-providers offer free courses, which entice more people to enroll. There are
MOOCs that provide certificates of completion to the students; however, most of them do not
count for college credit.
- The concept of MOOC was invented in 2008 by Dave Cormier, from the University of Prince
Edward Island, for a course offered by the University of Manitoba, "Connectivism and
Connective Knowledge”,
The learning material or video content used in an MOOC is created by an educational institution,
usually a university or a college that offers such programs. The organization and administration
operation of an MOOC are coordinated by active MOOC platforms (e.g. Coursera and edX). MOOCs
were created from the idea of covering an entire university course online and thereby making it
accessible to everyone in the world. The intent was to "democratize" educational content from elite
universities.
Types of Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)
1. xMOOCs
- stands for eXtended MOOC. xMOOCs are based on traditional university course structures and make
use of established teaching approaches and materials.
- Students will watch pre-recorded lectures, complete required readings, and participate in discussions
as produced and managed by a course instructor or an instructional team from a higher education
institution.
- These are typically self-contained and rarely utilize content external to the main content delivery and
learning platform.
2. cMOOCs
- stands for Connectivist MOOC. cMOOCs are based on the connectivist learning model that favors
collaboration among learners as a form of active learning.
- Students in cMOOC work together to locate, evaluate, and contribute to the course content by
uploading materials in the form of tweets, blog posts, wikis and others, to the course using the learning
platform.
- A cMOOC instructor or instructional team facilitates learning by finalizing, aggregating, and assessing
the students’ contributions to the course.
Advantages of Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)
1. Relax requirements – MOOC can be taken by anyone who is interested in the subject matter and able
to access the course, regardless of age, background, or location.
2. Video format availability - Teaching in a modern video format (not just texts like those that you’d
find in other e-learning courses).
3. Accessibility- learning content from top universities like Harvard, Stanford, etc. can be opened
through online format.
4. Repetition- an MOOC will often run two or three times a year, ensuring that students would not miss
their chance.
5. High quality- MOOCs are led by subject matter experts (SMEs) and supported by teaching assistants,
so that students have access to first-rate educational resources.
6. Feasibility- an MOOC usually requires 1-2 hours of study a week for about 5 weeks, making learning
doable even for busy students.
7. Self-paced- an MOOC enables students to work through the course materials and assessments at
their own pace.
8. Online collaboration- learners across the globe work together on common goals without the need to
meet each other in person
Some Top MOOC platforms
a. Coursera has over 20 million learners/participants. Courses were created by the universities of
Stanford, Princeton, Yale, London, Munich, Zurich, and many more.
b. EdX has around 10 million learners/participants. Courses were created from Harvard, MIT,
Berkeley, and Oxford, among others.
c. Udacity is created as an MOOC platform at Stanford. Now mostly programming courses in
cooperation with industry partners such as Google, Facebook, or Daimler. Course topics include
artificial intelligence and self-driving cars.
d. FutureLearn is MOOC platform (UK-based) which includes various British and European universities.
Courses offered are shorter in duration compared to others
