by Kadir and Vladislav
Wake up, take a shower, have a breakfast, wear clothes, buy a ticket, take the bus to school and charge the laptop before the professor arrives to classroom. A routine that is repeated by millions of students today. Hence, this is only a process that we are able to empathise in our developed world view. The energy, time and resources spent for provision of education in the world is subject of a greater discussion. Yet, the concept massive open online course (MOOC) bears a potential to overcome many of the challenging points in this issue.
To describe simply, people regardless of their age, gender, education level or financial income are able to learn a course through an online learning platform, by watching videos, reading articles and completing exercises supplied by educators. MOOC is becoming increasingly popular not only
among students, but also professionals who are willing to gain skills to achieve better results in their work environment. Furthermore, even though it was first recognised among developed countries, studies report that MOOCs are becoming increasingly popular in developing countries as well.
There are various aspects in efficiency that we, as learners and educators can benefit from MOOC. In recent years, more than 25 million people enrolled in to a MOOC. However, in Coursera (as it is probably the most popular platform for MOOCs) only 4% of the users managed to complete the courses that they have enrolled in. There might be a sign of inefficiency at this degree. Still, for
developing countries, whose citizens have limited access to education resources, this might be a manna from the heaven. Besides, studies prove that MOOCs are taken more serious by students from developing countries, as their rate of completion for courses are in much higher level. If one of these countries boldly decides to reorganise their education system, and acknowledge the time spent in online learning platform equivalent to what is learned in the classroom, it would be possible to measure the abbreviation that is received regarding the costs of education. Besides, it is likely to realise several benefits that can be highlighted at individual perspective:
• It creates a flexibility in daily schedule of the learner, as well as the educator. One would be able to learn and teach anytime during the day, and no matter where she or he is.
• Lack of concentration is likely to be prevented, since it is possible to divide lectures into shorter
periods, even to five minutes.
• Collective data of questions previously asked, lectures previously given and exercises previously provided are useful tools for the learner to strengthen the skills in this area.
Lots more to discuss in recognition of MOOCs and how it will influence the education in future. Shall MOOCs replace courses in primary levels of education as well? Is it possible to shrink the gap between developing and developed countries through online learning? Have pedagogues considered potential outcome of MOOCs in perception of learning for future generations? Be our guest to clarify!
Sources for further information:
https://hbr.org/2015/09/whos-benefiting-from-moocs-and-why
http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21714173-alternative-providers-education-mustsolve-
problems-cost-and
https://www.irex.org/news/new-study-moocs-developing-countries-reveals-half-users-receivecertification
http://monitor.icef.com/2016/04/mooc-learners-in-developing-countries-focused-on-careerdevelopment/
BUS446 
Many good points!
One of the biggest challenges with MOOCs as I see it is that you loose the interaction with other students. This is a big part of both learning and other benefits as network, friendship, social skills etc. As MOOCs are today, I think these possibilities are limited, although future innovations probably can reduce this problem. But as a starting point I think MOOCs definitely can contribute to shrinking the gap between developing and developed countries.
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Very interesting – and quite relevant for what the lecturers in our BUS446 class have attempted on their Thursday sessions.
I think that videos of lectures, similar to powerpoints and voice recordings, are great for repetition and studying for a final exam. However, when it comes to learning, I believe that the human interaction component is still quite important.
It might just be that I’m used to the classroom setting, but somehow my experience is that much of the joy in learning lies in the opportunity to ask questions and challenge the ideas presented in the curriculum as you look the people you discuss with in the eye. Especially for extroverts, who depend a lot on verbal processing and discussions to learn about new topics, MOOCs could prove to be a challenge, at least if there is little room for interaction with others.
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This theme is extremely interesting. I think that if governments in developing countries really started to focus on MOOCs, the level of education in these countries could fast become conciderably higher. This would have a positive effect for the country as a whole, and would shrink the gap between developed and developing countries. But this means that governments need to take education seriously and invest in it.
As mentioned over, the human interaction component is important in learning. Despite this, I think that MOOCs is a way better alternative for people in developing countries, than not going to school at all. This could be a great starting point.
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Interesting topic! I agree with Steinar and Andreas who mentioned the importance of “real” interaction and the personal involvement of students during a class.
E-Learning is a famous new trend and there are many companies on the market which provide different types of this service. But in my opinion MOOC stands out from the crowd with its idea to deal with the gap between developing and developed countries. It´s a great personal chance for people in developing countries to change their education – A certificate, f.e. after a couple of lectures, would enabled them to show “higher” education skills on the job market.
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