8 MOOCs Transforming Education
The early market for massive open online courses (MOOCs) brings more approaches than you might realize. Take a look at 8 game changers.
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As the reputation of massive open online courses (MOOCs) has grown in higher education, a few of these initiatives have attracted the lion's share of attention. There are a greater number of MOOCs, taking more different approaches, than you might realize.
The famous ones are Coursera, Udacity and edX. These three have big-name backers and are associated with some of the world's best-known universities. Coursera and Udacity were founded by Stanford professors looking to shake up higher education, and have venture backing. EdX, a non-profit, has the stellar educational brands of Harvard and MIT behind it, as well as more cash than any other MOOC.
These MOOCs have lofty aims, to bring aspects of an elite college education to the masses, especially masses who live in countries where it's almost impossible to get access to an Ivy League-caliber education. These MOOCs also tend to focus on subjects that lend themselves to problem sets and multiple-choice quizzes, courses such as computer science, economics and mathematics, with a smattering of survey courses that, unlike their real-world counterparts, don't assign term papers, at least not yet.
But there are MOOCs for the rest of us as well. Canvas, which sells a platform used by colleges to provide classes online, is working with its customers to make those classes available as MOOCs. Pictured here: Canvas Network's "Gender Through Comic Books" course.
ALISON, perhaps the oldest MOOC, focuses on providing job skills and certification courses, with content provided by companies, trade associations and even individual experts. Udemy is a catch-all kind of MOOC, with classes for job seekers, hobbyists and casual learners, driven by people who want to teach something. Peer to Peer University is a grassroots approach to online education, reminiscent of the Chautauqua movement of the late 19th century, which brought people together in learning communities.
Khan Academy is on our list, too. Although it's not as focused on complete courses as the MOOCs, in many ways it has inspired the MOOC frenzy. Aimed largely at K-12 students, its 10-minute videos and folksy, almost crude graphics showed that online education can be effective without being stuffy, and that millions of people were hungry for education.
Today's MOOC is as democratic in its sensibilities as the lyceums of Socrates and Aristotle. Learners come and go as they will, and nobody hands out diplomas just yet. MOOCs might not stay informal, they might supplant traditional education, or they might remain a supplement; we are in the early phases of the medium, and what we hype now will be seen as humble first steps by the future.
The MOOC is on mother's milk -- little miracles that are full of possibility and not much more. Expect more experiments and some stumbles as those engaged in this new endeavor educate themselves.
MOOC: ALISON
ALISON (Advanced Learning Interactive Online) claims to be the world's oldest MOOC, having started in 2007.
Courses: ALISON offers 500 certificate and diploma courses in 11 categories, among them IT, languages, business and health.
Focus: Job skills and vocational training.
Sources for courses: Multinational organizations such as Microsoft and The British Council, individual publishers who have qualifications and reputations in specific areas of knowledge, industry experts in their fields.
Cost: Free for the basic version. A premium version provides faster downloading.
Backed by: Founder Mike Feerick and angel investors.
Status: For profit.
Leadership: Mike Feerick, CEO and founder.
MOOC: edX
EdX is Harvard and MIT's open-source university, offering college-level courses free online. The very first class was in spring 2012. Currently, it offers classes from three universities: Harvard, MIT and University of California at Berkeley. In 2013, Wellesley, Georgetown and the 15-school University of Texas system will begin offering courses. Six more schools will be added in 2014, including several international universities.
Courses: As of spring 2013, EdX offers 26 courses, ranging from computer science to chemistry to economics to political science. Pictured here: Eric Lander in the introduction to his biology MOOC.
Focus: Opening elite college instruction to a much larger audience.
Sources for courses: Started with Harvard, MIT and the University of California at Berkeley.
Cost: Free.
Backed by: A consortium of universities headed by Harvard and MIT, which have put $60 million into the effort.
Status: Not for profit.
Leadership: President Anant Agarwal, an MIT computer science professor.
MOOC: Coursera
Courses: 313 courses in 21 subject areas. Pictured here: a Coursera video.
Focus: Offering the masses access to elite college classes.
Sources for courses: 62 universities in 11 countries.
Cost: Free.
Backed by: $22 million in venture capital from the likes of Kleiner Perkins and New Enterprise Associates.
Status: For profit.
Leadership: Co-CEOs are co-founders Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng.
MOOC: Udacity
Courses: 22 courses in four categories. Pictured here: Sebastian Thrun's pen is one of your guides to Udacity's artificial intelligence class.
Focus: Increasing access to college-level courses.
Sources for courses: Udacity, corporate partners such as Google, university partners such as San Jose State.
Cost: Free.
Backed by: $21 million in venture capital from Andreessen Horowitz, Charles River Ventures and others.
Status: For profit.
Leadership: CEO and co-founder Sebastian Thrun.
MOOC: Khan Academy
Courses: 4,020 videos and 350 exercises on math, biology, chemistry, physics, finance and history. Pictured here: Khan Academy's American civics class includes a section on SOPA/PIPA.
Focus: Primarily K-12 education, but the 10-minute topical videos are designed to help anyone who wants to learn about the subject. There is content in at least 16 languages.
Sources for courses: Khan Academy.
Cost: Free.
Backed by: Donations and at least $12.5 million in grants from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Google, the O'Sullivan Foundation, the Valhalla Charitable Foundation and private individuals.
Status: Not for profit.
Leadership: President Shantanu Sinha and founder Salman Khan.
MOOC: Udemy
Courses: More than 5,000 courses in 16 categories.
Focus: Offers access to practical expertise in a variety of subjects; includes certifications and adult education.
Sources for courses: Experts who want to teach.
Cost: Mostly free.
Backed by: $16 million raised from Insight Venture Partners and others.
Status: For profit.
Leadership: CEO and co-founder Eren Bali.
MOOC: Peer 2 Peer University
Courses: About 50 six-week-long courses organized in five "schools."
Focus: Community-driven learning built around open education resources.
Sources for courses: Open education materials, organized primarily by interested volunteers.
Cost: Free.
Backed by: $900,000 from the Hewlett Foundation, Shuttleworth Foundation and others.
Status: Not for profit.
Leadership: Philipp Schmidt, director, co-founder.
MOOC: Canvas Network
Courses: More than 30 classes in a variety of subjects. Pictured here: Canvas Network's "Gender Through Comic Books" course.
Focus: Traditional university education in a MOOC format.
Sources for courses: Some of the more than 350 universities already using the Canvas online learning platform, as well as learning organizations such as Lumen Learning and the Open Course Library.
Cost: Free.
Backed by: $20 million from OpenView Venture Partners, EPIC Ventures and others funding Instructure, the company behind the Canvas online learning platform. Canvas is the primary product, with Canvas Network as an offshoot.
Status: For profit.
Leadership: Josh Coates, CEO.
MOOC: Canvas Network
Courses: More than 30 classes in a variety of subjects. Pictured here: Canvas Network's "Gender Through Comic Books" course.
Focus: Traditional university education in a MOOC format.
Sources for courses: Some of the more than 350 universities already using the Canvas online learning platform, as well as learning organizations such as Lumen Learning and the Open Course Library.
Cost: Free.
Backed by: $20 million from OpenView Venture Partners, EPIC Ventures and others funding Instructure, the company behind the Canvas online learning platform. Canvas is the primary product, with Canvas Network as an offshoot.
Status: For profit.
Leadership: Josh Coates, CEO.
As the reputation of massive open online courses (MOOCs) has grown in higher education, a few of these initiatives have attracted the lion's share of attention. There are a greater number of MOOCs, taking more different approaches, than you might realize.
The famous ones are Coursera, Udacity and edX. These three have big-name backers and are associated with some of the world's best-known universities. Coursera and Udacity were founded by Stanford professors looking to shake up higher education, and have venture backing. EdX, a non-profit, has the stellar educational brands of Harvard and MIT behind it, as well as more cash than any other MOOC.
These MOOCs have lofty aims, to bring aspects of an elite college education to the masses, especially masses who live in countries where it's almost impossible to get access to an Ivy League-caliber education. These MOOCs also tend to focus on subjects that lend themselves to problem sets and multiple-choice quizzes, courses such as computer science, economics and mathematics, with a smattering of survey courses that, unlike their real-world counterparts, don't assign term papers, at least not yet.
But there are MOOCs for the rest of us as well. Canvas, which sells a platform used by colleges to provide classes online, is working with its customers to make those classes available as MOOCs. Pictured here: Canvas Network's "Gender Through Comic Books" course.
ALISON, perhaps the oldest MOOC, focuses on providing job skills and certification courses, with content provided by companies, trade associations and even individual experts. Udemy is a catch-all kind of MOOC, with classes for job seekers, hobbyists and casual learners, driven by people who want to teach something. Peer to Peer University is a grassroots approach to online education, reminiscent of the Chautauqua movement of the late 19th century, which brought people together in learning communities.
Khan Academy is on our list, too. Although it's not as focused on complete courses as the MOOCs, in many ways it has inspired the MOOC frenzy. Aimed largely at K-12 students, its 10-minute videos and folksy, almost crude graphics showed that online education can be effective without being stuffy, and that millions of people were hungry for education.
Today's MOOC is as democratic in its sensibilities as the lyceums of Socrates and Aristotle. Learners come and go as they will, and nobody hands out diplomas just yet. MOOCs might not stay informal, they might supplant traditional education, or they might remain a supplement; we are in the early phases of the medium, and what we hype now will be seen as humble first steps by the future.
The MOOC is on mother's milk -- little miracles that are full of possibility and not much more. Expect more experiments and some stumbles as those engaged in this new endeavor educate themselves.
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