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AS part of the latest wave of online learning platforms, Massive Online Open Courses (Moocs) have gone viral. They can be useful for certain students, although those interested in changing or enhancing their careers should consider their more intensive sister, distance learning.
A Mooc is a mostly free, open course that nearly anyone can apply for and “attend†online. While there may be readings and lectures, students are generally not graded by a professor the way they would be in a traditional college course. You may often come and go as you please.
More than 4.5 million students were enrolled in Moocs at the end of last year, with some six million expected to participate by 2015, according to Kate Worlock, an analyst with Outsell, a research and advisory service based in Burlingame, Calif.
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The growth in Moocs, though, spurred by course offerings from top-tier schools like Harvard, M.I.T., Stanford and Yale, has yet to eclipse the population of traditional online learners, which was about 21 million at the end of 2013.
For many, Moocs are the online intellectual equivalent of wine samplings or tasting menus. You don’t have to commit to an entire course if it doesn’t satisfy your intellectual palate or time constraints. Unlike the older distance-learning programs, which have been around for decades and are usually offered through individual colleges for credit, Moocs may grant noncredit “certificates†or “verifications†that have questionable value.
If you’re looking for career advancement or a new job, do Moocs make sense? Despite the astounding variety of courses offered — including computer science and zoology — if judged by completion rates, Moocs may not be the ideal vehicle for online learning.
In a 2013 study by the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, course completion rates were 4 percent among the programs surveyed, which followed the activity of about one million users. Relatively few of the users were considered to be “active,†with “engagement falling off dramatically — especially after the first one to two weeks of a course,†the study said.
Ms. Worlock, who has studied the low completion rates, surmises that many students may not have the time to complete a course because of family and work obligations. The typical user is “a lot older — 35 is the average age,†she found. “You need to be an extremely dedicated individual to complete a course.â€
Finding the Right Mooc
If you want to be an educational grazer — or will be satisfied with earning a certificate without a grade or college credit — then you will need to start browsing the courses on the three major platforms.
Coursera, which is a for-profit platform for more than 400 institutions, features the basics of Mooc courses: video lectures, interactive quizzes, peer-graded assessments and the ability to connect with other students and teachers. You can obtain a “signature track†certificate from Coursera or the offering college, but note that it’s not the same as college credit.
As with many of the Moocs, you can access many courses free, but must pay a fee to join a signature track or earn a “verified certificate†that shows that you completed the course. For example, Yale Prof. Robert J. Shiller, a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science, recently taught a course in financial markets. Coursera offered the class at an “introductory price†of $49.
The edX platform, founded and governed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, features courses from a variety of institutions, including the University of California, Berkeley and Peking University.
Udacity, the third platform, which grew from a Stanford University experiment conducted by Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig, serves more than 160,000 students in 190 countries. Its advisory board includes William J. Bennett, former secretary of education, and Laurene Powell Jobs, an executive, philanthropist and the widow of the Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
While you can view the free course materials in Udacity, the service will charge a fee, which varies by course. None of the courses are for credit, except for a program sponsored in partnership with Georgia Tech, which offers a master’s degree in computer science.
Also consider such sites as class-central.com and futurelearn.com, which are aggregators for Moocs. Class Central, for example, will show viewers available courses from Coursera and edX and provide a heads-up on future offerings. FutureLearn focuses on colleges in Britain and Commonwealth countries.
Evaluating the Courses
No standard rating system applies to online courses the way one is used for movies or vehicles. You have to know what you want.
Will a Mooc meet your needs? First, decide if the Mooc environment is right for you. For many, this is not an effective way to learn. If you find it difficult to “attend†online sessions, can’t budget the time or complete a course in a self-paced environment, then you might need the structure of a distance-learning program, although it will cost much more.
Do you need accreditation? Most Mooc courses don’t have this designation, which is conferred by accreditation bodies, but it’s essential for granting college credit. Distance-learning programs can be accredited and can lead to degrees.
Are the instructors worthwhile? Are you getting staff professors or adjuncts? What is their background and what are their qualifications? If you’re considering a major career move, they should be active in their field doing research and perhaps have their foot in the business world too.
Do you need one-on-one contact? If you’re a learner who needs face time with a professor and other students, then using chat rooms or emailing might not work for you. Traditional online courses that offer additional campus-based classes might be better fits. The advantage of entering a course at any time, also called “asynchronous†access, may fit your schedule, but not your learning style. For those who would normally not participate in a classroom, though, online “communities†might be more suitable.
How are you assessed? Moocs may not rigorously evaluate whether you know the material that was presented or may have “self-†or “student†assessments, meaning no professor grades you. If you need supervised or proctored exams for credit, then the traditional route might be preferable.
When a Mooc Won’t Do
Suppose you needed a paper degree or solid college credit recognized by any employer. Then you may be spinning your wheels with a Mooc and need a more traditional online environment such as distance-learning programs, which award degrees and credit.
Laurel Casey, a reference librarian with the Grayslake Area Public Library in Grayslake, Ill., sought a top-rated library science program when she was changing careers for the third time. A former middle-school teacher and urban planner, she was looking for an online program that was accredited and rigorous in providing job skills.
Ms. Casey researched programs and discovered the master of library science through the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It was highly rated by U.S. News & World Report and required that students attend in a 10-day “boot camp†and weekend seminars on campus. She finished most of the degree online, which fit her schedule as a mother working outside the home, and was pleased with the amount of interaction with professors and students.
“The program allowed me to work, parent and take classes at the same time,†Ms. Casey said. “I just wanted to be a good librarian, and having a degree helps.â€
Of course, going the traditional route that combines a bricks-and-mortar experience with online learning is not only more expensive and time-consuming, it requires a much greater commitment than a Mooc.
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