Analysis
The rising power of MOOCs

3 years ago, MOOCs were an idea. Now 5 million of students signed on to MOOCs around the world and 33,000 is the average number of students that sign up for a MOOC. Now, everyone can learn at Harvard or Yale or... Access the infographic

by Julia Smith - Top 10 Online Colleges

 

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,
  • 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%