Online Education. What is Mooc? a massive open online course (MOOC) is a free Web-based distance learning program.
Traditional online courses charge tuition, carry credit and limit enrollment to a few dozen to ensure interaction with instructors. The MOOC, on the other hand, is usually free, credit-less and, well, massive.
Because anyone with an Internet connection can enroll, faculty can’t possibly respond to students individually. So the course design, how material is presented and the interactivity counts for a lot.
The medium is still the lecture. Thanks to KhanAcademy.org free archive of snappy instructional videos, MOOC makers have gotten the memo on the benefit of brevity: 8 to 12 minutes is typical. Teaching assistants may monitor discussion boards. There may be homework and a final exam.
The shimmery hope is that free courses can bring the best education in the world to the most remote corners of the planet, help people in their careers, and expand intellectual and personal networks.
Most professors come from elite campuses, and many classes are offered by some of the top universities in the world. So far, most MOOCs are in technical subjects like computer science and math, with straightforward content. But Coursera, Udacity and edX are each defining different form as they develop their brands.
In Coursera the learning comes from an impressive roster of elites offering a wide range of courses, from computer science to philosophy to medicine. Most offerings are adapted from existing courses: a Princeton Coursera course is a Princeton course.
Udacity has stuck close to its math and computer science roots and emphasizes applied learning, like “How to Build a Blog” or “Building a Web Browser.” Job placement is part of the Udacity package. Udacity courses are designed and produced in-house or with companies like Google and Microsoft.
A QUICK LOOK AT THE DIFFERENT MOOC AVAILABLE:
WWW.COURSERA.ORG
Founded: April 2012 by Daphne Koller of Stanford and Andrew Ng of Stanford and Google
Format: Short videos, quizzes and problem sets with immediate feedback, and a Q&A forum.
Topics: The fullest selection, from poetry to medicine to probability.
WWW.EDXONLINE.ORG
Founded: April 2012 by Anant Agarwal of MIT
Format: Short videos, problem sets, a forum, wiki, and Facebook study groupsTopics. humanities as well as sciences.
WWW.MINERVAPROJECT.COM
Founded: April 2012 by Ben Nelson, former CEO of Snapfish
Format: Pre-recorded video lectures and live video chat with classmates and discussion leaders.
WWW.UDACITY.COM
Founded: January 2012 by Sebastian Thrun of Google and Stanford and Peter Norvig of Stanford
Format: Short videos, quizzes and problem sets, a wiki and forum, and a live course manager like a TA. Courses are organized by level with links to suggested prerequisites.
Topics: Focus on computer science, with a few other science and math topics.
