Kampala International University
Massive Open
Online Courses (MOOCs) And Professional Development
Massive Open Online
Course (MOOC) is a new learning model based on web technologies content
learning or virtual classrooms that is available to any student who wants to
take any course. Everyone around the globe can quickly develop his/her skills
almost for free.
In 2014,
approximately 36% of global employers’ reported that many job positions remain
vacant due to talent crisis or absence of needed skills (Samans, Zahidi,
Keveloh et al., 2015). Therefore, MOOCs will probably be the solution for
professional development and employment talent crisis.
With
Massive Open Online Courses, individuals can develop their specific professions
and attain certificates of accomplishment-free of charge. With its key feature:
“open access”, anyone can participate in the course for free although learners
receive no credit. The courses are aimed to help indefinite numbers of students
who might not access this knowledge and skills during regular classes.
According to Educate, MOOC learning activities could be synchronous (working or
moving at the same rate) and asynchronous (one character at a time). Some
courses are self-biased, and others are not so that the students can choose
either of them.
“The term
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) was first introduced in 2008 by Dave Cormier
to describe Siemens and Downes’ Connectivism and Connective Knowledge course”
(Yuan and Powell, 2013). This course was initially for more than 20
participants enrolled for credit with fee payment, and over 2,300 people
participated in the course without paying fees or gaining credit. In 2011,
Stanford released access of such “Introduction to Artificial Intelligence”
courses that attracted hundreds of thousands of students around the world
(Wikipedia, 2015). Notable MOOC platforms include Courser a, ALISON, Edx and
many others. In fact, MOOC a new ecology of learning in today’s world is
gearing towards skill development.
Everyone
can take a course through a device: computer, tablet, or smartphones anywhere.
The students can join and participate in any classes with no payment and no
credit. They only should submit course’s activates, which might involve
watching videos, reading Powerpoints/ PDFs, Submitting quizzes/ assignments,
posting discussion boards and commenting via social media platforms (Educuase,
2011). Learners must have internet connection since the class is virtual or
online. Course materials downloaded, activities uploaded or submitted. Without
an internet connection, it is impossible for online class presence. Also,
learners must show commitment. The same as physical classes, the success of
online courses needs total commitment.
Coursera,
a prominent MOOC platform, offers many required different field courses
including Personal Development, Entrepreneurship, Social Sciences, Humanities
and so on, those aim for skills upgrading. For example, Academic English
Writing had been offering by the University of California, Irvin through
Coursera is extremely important for secretaries, researchers, journalists,
students and many others. Most of developing nations’ education system lacks
well-designed curriculum that can produce a highly skilled labor force to the
market so that MOOCs can be a solution for skills upgrading. Sometimes
employers lookout for some specific skills, those can be learned on MOOC. Some
skills become absolute, and others emerge. Importance of some skills varies
from organization to organization or country to country. “Cloud and distributed
computing skills have surged to the top of 2015’s list. While it was a sought
for skill in a few countries up until now, there has been a massive increase in
members listing this skill on their profile” (LinkedIn, 2015). Furthermore,
MOOC learners earn certificates of accomplishments after passing all course
activities.
Furthermore,
MOOC is a win/win solution for both Job seekers and employers. A significant
number of Jobseekers advances their careers from MOOC platforms. 2014, the
survey was conducted by Coursera and its partners which discovered “Fifty-two
percent of leaners said they took courses to develop their career.
Finally,
MOOC can be the best alternative for a business leader to train their
employees. Typically, a job in training is expensive regarding cost and time.
If employers encourage their staffs to advance their career through MOOCs, this
will change the productivity of their business. Building career for a new job
or in the post and recruiting talented teams is easy to achieve MOOCs.
In
conclusion, Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) was innovation in ICT in
Education which dramatically changed the way of learning. The Notable platforms
include Edx, Coursera, Khan Academy, Udacity, Udemy, Alison, and others.
MOOC is easily accessible and free to everyone, anywhere, anytime, on any
subject. Finally, MOOC is the solution for those who are seeking a new job, a
promotion, or starting a new business.
Somali
Business Review, publication of SIMAD University was where this article was
first released.| Volume 9, Issue 2, April-June 2016
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