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Source: Top10OnlineColleges.org

The Rising Power of MOOCs: Now, everyone can learn at Harvard (or Yale, or…)

3 years ago, MOOCs were an idea. Now….

5 million: number of students signed on to MOOCs, around the world

33,000: the average number of students that sign up for a MOOC

The Dream: MOOCs Can:

• Offer Ivy League Courses at non-Ivy League prices (free), thus….

• Lifting people out of poverty

• Unlock billions of brains to solve the world’s biggest problems

And yet

1 in 4: Americans don’t even know what a MOOC is.

They are: Massive Open Online Courses.

Who Takes MOOCs:

• 37% have a B.S. degree

• 28% have a Master’s degree or profession

• 27% high school

Majority of those taking MOOCs tend to be young, male and employed, from highly developed countries.

• Over 40% of students are under 30 years old

• Less than 10% over 60

• 88 % of MOOC students are male

• 62 % are employed

• 13% are unemployed…or retired

Comparison of geographic location of students, by self identification and IP address

• U.S. 34% of MOOC students

• India: 7.28 %

• Brazil: 4.37 %

• Great Britain: 3.89%

• Canada: 3.4%

• Spain: 2.7 %

• Russia: 2.5%

• China: 2%

• Australia: 2%

• Germany: 1.7%

Employment:

• Student: 17.4%

• Part time employed: 6.9%

• Full time employed: 50%

• Self employed: 12.4%

• Unemployed: 6.6%

• Retired: 6.8%

Why do students Participate in MOOCs?

• Gain knowledge to get degree: 13.2%

• Gain specific skills to do job better: 43.9%

• Gain specific skills to get a new job: 17%

• Curiosity: 50%

[Those surveyed could pick more than one answer]

Requirements for successful online learning:

• Quality of material covered in the course

• Engagement of the teacher

• Interaction among students

Accredited Online (only) Schools offer MOOCs

edX: Courses from:

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Harvard

• University of California Berkeley

Coursera: Courses from:

• California Institute of Technology,

• University of Washington,

• Stanford University,

• Princeton University,

• Duke University

• John Hopkins University, and many others.

Udacity: Partner companies include:

• Google

• Facebook

• Bank of America

Udemy Free courses from:

• Dartmouth,

• the University of Virginia

• Northwestern and others….

iTunes Free Courses

• Apple’s free app. Right in the app, they can play video or audio lectures. Read books and view presentations.

Top Universities offer MOOCs:

• Stanford Free Courses – from Quantum Mechanics to The Future of the Internet.

• Stanford’s Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: 160,000 students from 190 countries signed up to Stanford’s Introduction to AI” course, with 23,000 reportedly completing.

• UC Berkeley Free Courses. Check out Berkeley Webcasts and Berkeley RSS feeds.

• MIT Free Courses: MIT’s RSS MOOC feed, and MIT’s Open Courseware.

• Duke Free Courses – Duke offers a variety of courses on ITunesU.

• Harvard Free Courses: Get a free Harvard education. No application required.

• UCLA Free Courses

• Yale Free Courses – Check out Open Yale

• Carnegie Mellon Free Courses – “No instructors, no credits, no charge”

Pros and Cons of MOOCs:

Pros: By design, MOOCs are….

Incredibly flexible

Diverse in their range of subjects

Open to anyone

Free.

And Downs:

No credit for completion

Lack of hands on learning

100,000 or more to 1, student to teacher ratio

High dropout rates of up to 90%

Sources:

http://poetsandquants.com/2013/12/17/the-mooc-revolution-the-best-mba-electives-for-free/

http://www.bdpa-detroit.org/portal/index.php/comittees/high-school-computer-competition-hscc/29-education/57-moocs-top-10-sites-for-free-education-with-elite-universities.html

Paper: The MOOC Phenomenon: Who Takes Massive Open Online Courses, and Why? By G. Christensen, A. Steinmetz, B. Alcorn, D. Woods, A Bennett, and E.J. Emanel. (U. of Pennsylvania)

http://distancelearn.about.com/od/isitforyou/tp/Top-Massively-Open-Online-Courses-Moocs.htm

http://www.technapex.com/2012/11/weighing-the-pros-and-cons-of-massive-open-online-courses-moocs/