Since
first making headlines in 2011, massive open online courses, or MOOCs, are now
offered at hundreds of universities to millions of students around the world,
including atWharton. In the new ebook Mastering MOOCs, published with Wharton Digital Press, Knowledge@Wharton reports
on how business professionals are using MOOCs to further their careers, and to
help their companies and teams succeed.
In
the following excerpt, Knowledge@Wharton looks at why some of them take MOOCs.
Max Buckley was on the
cusp of graduating from the Cork Institute of Technology when he stumbled upon
a relatively new form of online learning — the massive open online course, or
MOOC.
Although he was studying
business administration, Buckley had an eye for the technological side of
things and was regretting not pursuing a more computer-related field. The
Circuits and Electronics MOOC from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
caught his eye, so he enrolled in the free course.
Final exams prevented him
from finishing it, but he was hooked on the concept—free classes that he could
take online, on his own schedule and offered by some of the most prestigious
universities in the world. He kept enrolling in interesting classes and
eventually steered himself toward computer programming courses. As luck would
have it, he enrolled in a data analysis course at the same time he interviewed
for an internship with Google.
An even bigger stroke of
luck was finding out his interviewer was also enrolled in that class. Buckley
landed the internship, and then was hired full time. He is now a product
quality analyst, charged with helping the tech giant fight spam.
“It wasn’t the sole
reason [I got the internship], but a good part of it was that I had this blend
of programming and business, and [the learning] was self-directed,” he said of
his MOOC background. “I had the formal education box ticked, but this extra
work was interesting. Obviously I’ve learned a lot more by using them, and that
has fed back into my formal studies.”
“The ROI will depend specifically on what each learner came into
the MOOC hoping to accomplish, and how much the MOOC is able to meet those
goals.”
Buckley’s story may be
extraordinary — not everyone is going to land a job with Google by taking a few
free online courses — but it demonstrates the growing power of MOOCs as a way
to bring world-class education to anyone with time, commitment and an internet
connection.
Why
Take a MOOC?
For Shawn Jones, a MOOC
represented an escape from a dead-end retail job and the chance to get traction
in an in-demand tech field.
For Michelle Warner, a
MOOC was a way to learn the basic legal ins and outs of establishing a startup.
And for Abhay Tandon, MOOCs taught him global business practices that put him at the forefront of new technologies.
And for Abhay Tandon, MOOCs taught him global business practices that put him at the forefront of new technologies.
MOOCs gave these three
learners a chance to make professional leaps that either a lack of time or
money would have otherwise prevented. Working at their own pace and around the
demands of their full-time jobs, they were able to crack into new professions,
start businesses and position themselves to make deals on different continents.
Many of the benefits of a
MOOC can be found elsewhere on the learning spectrum: textbooks, workshops,
webinars, executive education courses or college degrees. Each can provide
similar benefits to lifelong learners. Where MOOCs have a unique advantage,
however, is in their capacity to help self-directed learners more deeply
immerse themselves in new knowledge or gain new skills with relatively few
barriers.
The courses are
open, so you don’t need to apply and be accepted into a program, and most are
free. Twitter They offer deep dives into a wide
range of subjects, but offer learners the flexibility to take only a portion of
a course if they so desire. Because the courses are online, they allow learners
to weave learning around their day-to-day responsibilities.
The
ROI of a MOOC
Jones said he found
enormous value from his MOOC experience. He can draw a line straight from his
CS50 course to a new job and increased earnings. Measuring the return on
investment of a MOOC isn’t always such an obvious process, however.
Since the classes are
often free, it’s not as easy as calculating X money spent brought in Y dollars
of savings or additional business. The ROI will depend specifically on what
each learner came into the MOOC hoping to accomplish, and how much the MOOC is
able to meet those goals.
“MOOCs also offer a value beyond the skills or knowledge that
can be gleaned from the courses. Major universities offer MOOCs, including
top-tier programs that normally come with stiff costs and high barriers to
entry.”
Warner, a Denver-based
entrepreneur, has been a MOOC learner nearly since the format’s inception.
Along with brushing up on her skills and refreshing her memory on key business
topics, Warner, 36, said one specific MOOC helped her be a smarter consumer
when she was starting a new company.
Law and the Entrepreneur,
a Northwestern University Law School MOOC offered on Coursera, helped her get
basic legal information on establishing her business. Since the source was a
world-renowned law school, she felt comfortable using that information as she
worked on building a new company while providing think-tank services for other
startups, founders and small businesses.
Getting startups off the
ground doesn’t leave much space for free time, so the flexibility MOOCs offered
were invaluable to Warner’s learning process. Sometimes that meant completing
an entire MOOC; other times, it meant jumping into one briefly to audit a
specific topic.
“I’m an entrepreneur; I
have to be self driven,” she said. “I have to look at what I need to do to
round out my skills. If that means two weeks, to me, that’s a success.
Sometimes it’s just watching the lectures.”
MOOCs also offer a value beyond
the skills or knowledge that can be gleaned from the courses. Major
universities offer MOOCs, including top-tier programs that normally come with
stiff costs and high barriers to entry. Getting access to that knowledge, even
if only for one online lecture, gives learners access to world-class
institutions and their top talent without having to worry about admission exams
and tuition bills.
“When I add a course from
a reputable business school, it adds value [to my CV],” Tandon said. “It’s not
too much time to invest in learning something new. In the long run, it’s
nothing [compared to] what I’m learning from these courses.”
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