MOOCs have powerfully impacted higher education and are one of the latest educational innovations that aim to lifelong education, for anyone who has the motivation to continue learning.
It was evident in 2015 that MOOCs are going to make a visible impact on Indian education when more than 1 million Indian residents signed up for Coursera’s online courses. According to an MIT Technology Review, the popularity of MOOCs in India is growing with time. So, what can be the reasons for such growth? Let us look at some of them.
MOOCs do not discriminate against anyone, extend an invitation to anyone who wants to participate, offer the possibility to solve some of the problems that prevent people from continuing their education such as economic, geographical, labour and family issues.
Although in the beginning the MOOCs were viewed with distrust and skepticism, the development of critical thinking, reasoning, collaborative work and autonomy at the time of learning that accompanies online education have little by little managed to change this concept.
At the same time, they have revolutionized the way of teaching, by bringing together in the same team content experts, instructional designers, technology experts and experts in audio-visual material, among others.
As if this were not enough, MOOCs appear
At a time when students show discontent as the cost of education increases and the quality of traditional education decreases. In fact, more and more universities offer courses in this modality. Also, the trust of the students has been reinstated with the backing of many reputed universities and institutes pushing for the MOOCs and the availability of various tools such as assignment help for the students on the online platforms.
How have MOOCs impacted education?
It is early to know if MOOCs have surpassed traditional education quality, but according to Dhawal Shah. Class Central SEO by the end of 2017, 81 million students had enrolled in at least one MOOC.
The number of courses offered by MOOCs has increased from 6,850 to 9,400 in 2017.
During the first International MOOC-MAKER 2017 Conference that took place in Antigua Guatemala, the professionals indicate that there are already several universities that offer a “blended” option where the use of MOOCs is incorporated in the face-to-face courses. The experts in MOOCs gathered at this conference agree that online studies are a better way to get to know the students who wish to enter the institution than traditional admission exams. Also, MOOC providers are focusing on providing recognition to the student through certificates they can use to improve their employment opportunity.
Many leading institutions such as MIT and Columbia University, offer programs called MicroMasters, which are a series of MOOCs with the option of acquiring a professional certificate of higher education offered by edX and its partner universities, which also allows the transfer of credits to a traditional master’s program or online in the participating universities.
Dana Doyle, director of the MITx program, shares that they already have the first generation of students in this modality, where the MOOCs offer an opportunity to continue with these students who have been left out of the classroom.
The credibility of MicroMasters titles is growing, currently recognised by various organizations such as Google, IBM and Adobe among others.
MOOCs have also impacted the world of work because more and more organisations have started to value the employees who have online studies and are accepting alternative credentials to the traditional title.
In this regard, Johannes Heinlein, vice president of strategic alliances of edX, and participant in the conference mentioned above indicates that anyone can study MOOCs, which opens the door to education to those who do not have any other certification but can and want to learn. This improves your job opportunity, as with or without prior title; MOOCs allow people to increase their skills and abilities in the area of their interest.
With an offer of around 2000 courses and multiple partner universities, edX has impacted higher education by giving study opportunities to more than 14 million students who have enrolled in a course. Though, Coursera remains the largest MOOC provider with an offer of more than 2700 courses that are active.
We are facing a scenario where MOOCs achieve greater reach than traditional education, have modified the processes of admission and study in educational establishments and provide people with an opportunity to study that, if not for MOOCs, they would not have.
According to Johannes Heinlein, MOOCs will continue to impact education, mainly in these four aspects:
Greater access and diversification
Changes in university credits and new certifications
More collaboration and bridge building between organisations
Operational and academic changes in institutions
MOOCs are a meeting point in education, where the most important impact has been the change in social communication, collaboration and inclusion.