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Mooc Course Introduction

MOOCs provide unlimited online education from top institutions worldwide. They allow students to access lectures, notes, and share perspectives through discussion forums. Coursera is one of the largest MOOC providers, offering over 2000 courses in various subjects from sciences to humanities. India has also launched MOOC programs through SWAYAM to provide online courses from 2000 subjects to students across the country for free. While MOOCs increase access to education, they also have limitations like lack of interaction, certificates, and monitoring that can impact future employment opportunities for students who complete only online courses.

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209 views

Mooc Course Introduction

MOOCs provide unlimited online education from top institutions worldwide. They allow students to access lectures, notes, and share perspectives through discussion forums. Coursera is one of the largest MOOC providers, offering over 2000 courses in various subjects from sciences to humanities. India has also launched MOOC programs through SWAYAM to provide online courses from 2000 subjects to students across the country for free. While MOOCs increase access to education, they also have limitations like lack of interaction, certificates, and monitoring that can impact future employment opportunities for students who complete only online courses.

Uploaded by

jijo123408
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Introduction

A Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is a web-based platform which provides unlimited
number of students worldwide with a chance of distance education with the best institutes
in the world. It was established back in 2008 and gained momentum in 2012 as a popular
learning tool. Many MOOCs have communities that have interactive sessions and forums
between the student, professors and Teaching Assistants (TAs) along with the study/course
material and video lectures.

So, if there is a particular course you want to pursue but cannot, you have an option of
considering a MOOC for your chosen higher education path.

How does it work?


Think of it like an online platform where students and teachers come together and form an online
pool of resources, which are readily available for you to utilize. You have the option of listening
to lectures, downloading notes, contributing your own, and most importantly, sharing your point
of view by communicating with your peers. Networking makes the process seem like a virtual
online classroom.

Also read: 5 Online Education Trends to Watch in India in 2017

MOOCs in India and Abroad


There are various notable institutions, both non-profit and commercial, that offer these courses
worldwide with the help of MOOC providers. A few of these are listed below,

• NPTEL (India): Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc.)
offer online courses through this platform which require no registration and are free of cost.

• WizIQ (India and USA): IIT Delhi, India offers this course through this platform which
requires registration and fees to study courses offered by them.

• Open2Study: The headquarters of this platform for online courses is based out of Australia.

• Coursera: The headquarters of this platform for online courses is based out of USA.

• edX: The headquarters of this platform for online courses is based out of USA.

• udemy: The headquarters of this platform for online courses is based out of USA.
Coursera offers over 2000+ courses worldwide; Image Courtesy: designerfund.com

Coursera : The topmost provider of MOOCs

Online Courses being a norm now, there are a lot of organizations out there that offer these
MOOC courses, Coursera being one of them. Coursera was launched 4 years ago with an
intention to make courses available for students or anybody who wants to learn, by offering them
online. It offers online courses ranging from the sciences, i.e. Physics and Biology to
Humanities, Social Sciences and even Digital Marketing, Designing, etc. Coursera happens to be
the top most provider of MOOCs with over 2000+ courses to offer.

Also read: 10 benefits of online learning

MOOC program in India


The University Grants Commission (UGC) along with the HRD (Human Resource
Development) Ministry has launched the MOOC program in India for higher secondary,
bachelors and masters degrees. This will cover a wide range of subjects that may or may not be
taught in regular campus studies.

A new portal for MOOCs named ‘Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring
Minds’, in short, SWAYAM, is said to present students with an opportunity to study anything
from a list of 2000 courses out of which 200 are currently available for registration. Audio-visual
medium, illustrations, research and case studies with self-assessment are few of the mediums
chosen to approach the study of these courses.

To provide further information on SWAYAM and MOOCs in general, Professor A.K.Bakshi,


Chairman of the Centre for E-Learning, said, “These online courses have been developed by a
team of senior academicians and are expected to enhance the gross enrolment ratio in higher
education without compromising with the quality. These courses will also help in bridging the
digital divide in the country.”
Future and Scope of MOOC
As it is being pointed out, MOOC cannot replace the traditional approach of classroom learning
but it can be used as an alternative method to bridge the gap between various schools of learning.
It has been said however that MOOC has certain limitations which are listed below:

• Although digitalization is a must now, there are many nations that are unable to provide the
basic necessities to enrol for MOOCs hence the spread of MOOCs are limited.

• It is not always certain that all MOOCs provide degrees, certificates and/or diplomas which
limits the number of candidates that enrol for these courses as many companies ask for records of
the education levels achieved and candidates are unable to provide them with the same.

• A student’s life is confined to one room that has internet access and a laptop or a computer
which allows little or no interaction with the outside world.

• Since MOOCs are web-based, there is no monitoring of the candidates/students, which carries a
risk of plagiarism or cheating.

Employment Opportunities post Online Education


The new world of online education provides inexpensive education of college-level courses in
many fields of study. However, it is said that employers are not completely convinced with the
level of education and coursework provided by the MOOCs unless the candidate is looking for
jobs in the Technology or Computer Science sector.

Generally, it is said that MOOCs are focused on providing education that will improve skills in
specific fields of study, mostly focused on technology, science and mathematics. Although some
of the online courses provide records of completion of the courses, the online education concept
is relatively new. It is found that students are ready for this new concept however many
employers are still hesitant and sceptical about it.

To summarize, MOOCs are a great platform for higher education not just in India but all over the
world but it comes with its pros and cons when it comes down to the future prospects of students
that have passed out of MOOCs. Since the concept is new and has garnered praise recently, it
can turn out to be one of the best concepts off late.

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