“The opportunity to learn

about a subject from an

expert, in the company of

other interested learners.”

What is MOOC?

There are MOOCs available within all of thefollowing categories:

Pre-universityUndergraduate level

Masters levelContinuing professional

developmentVocationalTechnical

Advantages

• Courses open to anyone with aninternet connection.• Non-certified courses completelyfree.• Option to gain certificationand accreditation for coursecompletion.• Single-unit study allowspersonalisation of learning tosuit individual requirements.• Option to work completely atown pace.• Peer-collaboration promotes newideas and ways of thinking.• Discussion forums allow learnersto organise and put-forward ownthoughts.• Individual study develops selfdisciplineand motivation.

Disadvantages

• Courses are currently not asreputable as University-accreditedcourses.• Self-motivation required often leadsto non-completion of courses.• Lack of real-world access tospecialised equipment – e.g.laboratory equipment.• Lack of real-world interaction withother people.• Without qualified instructionover a whole course, students maynot realise they need to studyadditional modules for a completeunderstanding of a subject area.• Peer-review not as accurate asteacher-review – especially forassignments involving criticalthinking skills.

MOOC providers:

Alison(www.alison.com)

Coursera(www.coursera.org)

EdX(www.edx.org)

FutureLearn(www.futurelearn.com)

Udacity(www.udacity.com)