Education: Introduction to Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC)

I’m amazed that so many people still know so little about MOOCs in this day and age.

Before the ‘Digital Age’, distance learning appeared in the form of correspondence courses in the 1890s-1920s and later radio and television broadcast of courses and early forms of eLearning. Typically fewer than five percent of the students would complete a course. The dawn of the 21^st Century has seen significant changes in eLearning and distance education solutions, in particular, the development and implementation of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) by a number of innovative educational institutions.

The first MOOCs emerged from the Open Educational Resources (OER) movement around 2010. Over the past decade a growing number of public and private sector universities and educational institutions have developed ever more sophisticated eLearning platforms and ‘free and open’ educational and training courses, e.g. Khan Academy, Udemy, Coursera, edX. Today, many traditional universities are scrambling to join the movement and catch up with these more progressive educational organizations.

If you or your organization want to compete and succeed in the 21^st Century ‘Information Age’, you need to check out MOOCs.

* Read blog on Education 4.0