The age of MOOCs has arrived
If you haven’t heard about MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) before, you will in 2013! Many higher education institutes worldwide are grappling with shrinking operating budgets and the need to fully engage their social networking literate students. Increasingly, universities are recognising the opportunities that MOOCs afford them, as they attempt to deliver courses to large numbers of students at a lower cost and without compromising quality.
MOOCs are not just another name for distance learning courses. For a start, they are developed to be accessible to anyone with Internet access. Thus, millions of people worldwide can follow a MOOC without enrolling in a college first. It’s free to use! Course participants can interact with each other through forums and those who wish to receive accreditation for their learning, can register with the MOOC institution and enrol as a student.
The development of MOOCs is a huge step forward in the democratisation of higher education. Initiatives such as Future Learn and Coursera are to be welcomed and encouraged!