Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) started back in 2006 first but they gained their popularity at the beginning of this decade. Educationists then, predicted that MOOCs would take over higher education from colleges and universities. As we approach the end of this decade, MOOCs, in no sense, have taken over from the conventional methods. However, MOOCs still play an important role in students’ education and learning.
It is now getting worldwide accepted that university education can’t provide everything that employers are looking for. Students need to develop both hard and soft skills too, which are mostly not a part of the curriculum. So, the students turn to websites like YouTube, Coursera or edX which provide such courses to the students charging nothing or a small fee.
MOOCs bridging the gap
These courses haven’t replaced college but they fill the major gaps and loopholes of the current education system. Students in massive numbers lookup to enhance their skills or to match the skills required in the market. In a report by Swinburne University, Melbourne it was found that Australian students usually go for LinkedIn Learning or Khan Academy.
However, as the trend is observed, students and working professionals go for quicker and faster methods to get knowledge instead of following a detailed and well-planned curriculum. When asked about it, most of the working professionals and students cited it is their busy schedule which keeps them from going for a more structured course. The second most cited reason was money issues. YouTube provides quick and faster solutions without charging anything.
However, the drawback of this quick knowledge gaining method is that people hunting for new jobs have a hard time proving that they have the required skills. Structured and award courses usually help you work on a project and then based on the assessment, provide a certificate stating that the candidate has the particular skill set.
In any way, earlier it was considered that online education and offline education are two totally different markets, but online education is slowly creeping into the offline market. Understanding the change, universities have started investing in the structured MOOCs so that students can self educate themselves where the university curriculum fails to do so.
In the end its all about getting the most of the resources one has. That’s why students and especially the working professionals turn to MOOCs so that they can educate themselves and meet the latest market demands at a cost which is cheaper than a college or university education.
