What is a MOOC?

Online Courses as follows: a massive audience of students, open to anyone, consisting of individual online courses (Commonwealth of Learning, 2015).

Dr. Tony Bates discusses Massive Open Online Courses in detail in his YouTube video. He talks about the purpose of MOOCs, the type of MOOC and their strengths and weaknesses. 

In this video, the Dr.Tony Bates explains what MOOCs are and some of the benefits and limitations of this large-scale online learning format.

Dr.Tony Bates breaks it down into two types of MOOC:

  1. xMOOCs (behaviourist) mainly recorded university lectures on content creation. Some examples are Coursera, EdX, and FutureLearn. They are made by universities and licensed to use. 
  2. cMOOCs (connectivist) are communities of practice with lectures but without content presentations. Created with the knowledge and experience of the people in the learning community.

Learning with XMOOCs: Udemy

Most MOOCs are not credible for use in institutions; they are designed for continuing education. I used xMOOc for Udemy in the past to learn about digital marketing during COVID when I wanted to create a website and learn how to market my website / Gemstore bracelet small business. The course is called “ The Complete Digital Marketing Course -12 courses in 1.” I was laid off during COVID; I worked at the Fairmont Banff Springs, and during that time I learned many new skills. xMOOc was beneficial to me because it was cost-effective and I could still learn the same skills as I would in a face-to-face paid course. I will say it was more challenging to learn on my own and remotely, but it was the most I’ve ever learned by figuring it out myself. Udemy offers a Udemy certificate, but it can’t be used for university credit. I used the certificate as a motivator to finish. 

Advantages of MOOC

  • High-quality content
  • Free of low-cost options
  • Great for continued learning
  • Scalable to very large audiences

Disadvantages of MOOC

  • Lower completion rates
  • Expensive and time-consuming to create
  • Lack of initiation credit
  • Copyright restrictions. 

Linking to my Free Inquiry Project

Thinking of my free inquiry project on digital game-based learning in the classroom. I came across Minecraft Education,where they have a MOOC called Minecraft Teacher Academy, where teachers learn how to integrate Minecraft into the curriculum.

 References

Commonwealth of Learning. (2015, May 26). Massive open online courses (MOOCs) [Video]. YouTube.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6E_iIav52s

Minecraft Education. (n.d.). Training for educators. Microsoft. https://education.minecraft.net/en-us/resources/training-for-educators?utm_source=chatgpt.com