A massive Open online course (MOOC) is an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via web/internet. In addition to traditional course materials such as videos, reading and problem sets, MOOCs provide interactive user forums that help build a community for students, professors and teaching assistants (TAs). MOOCs are a recent development in distance education which began to emerge in 2012. A course of study made available over the internet without any charge to a very large number of people. Some Institutes provide certificate of participation and certificate of Attainment and charges nominal fee for these certificates.

1. MOOC: Massive Open Online Course
Yogender Rana
ae.linkedin.com/in/ysrana/
10/11/2014

2. Few weeks before, I joined one online course "Machine learning" based on
the artificial intelligence offered by Stanford University. I love reading
books, articles, news, topics on my personal interest. Artificial intelligence
was one of my favorite subjects during graduation. So still I am reading
articles based on artificial intelligence.
While I was looking for some good articles on internet, I found this course.
When I had gone through this course, I found that contents of the course
are very good. I am really enjoying this course.
After joining this course, I saw in the news that Prime Minister of India, Narendra
Modi wants to set up MOOCs and virtual classrooms "to make it convenient for
working class people and housewives to further their knowledge and
qualifications." This news created curiosity to know more about MOOCs.
So I gone through lot of websites, here are some details about MOOC-A
course of study made available over the internet without any charge to
a very large number of people. Some Institutes provide certificate of
participation and certificate of Attainment and charges nominal fee for
these certificates.

3. MOOC as:
 Massive – MOOCs typically have incredibly large numbers of students, usually
thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of participants.
 Open – MOOCs can be open in at least two ways. All MOOCs are open access:
students don’t have to enroll in the sponsoring organization, and they don’t have
to pay, unless they want some kind of credit or certification. The main barrier to
access is that students must have an Internet connected device. Second, some
MOOCs are open content: they encourage students to take the course content,
remix it, re-purpose it, add their own content, and feed it back into the course
ecosystem. In the words of Dave Cormier, an early MOOC pioneer at the
University of Prince Edward Island, the community is the curriculum.
 Online – While a MOOC may be part of an actual face-to-face course at a
university, most students access the course online through computers or mobile
devices.
 Course – MOOCs are courses with specific start and end dates, regular meeting
times, a more-or-less defined topic of study, facilitator/s, and activities and
assessments.
Who should do these courses?
 University faculty at any level any discipline.
 Learning tech personnel in universities and training Institutes.
 Higher education administrators, policy makers.
 Industry professional involved in training personnel at any level.
 Extension specialists in agriculture, public health and rural development.
 Development specialist.
 Teacher educators.
 Students who plan to use MOOC offerings to improve employability.

4. “Open education broke open the iron triangle of
access, cost and quality that had constrained
education throughout history and had created the
insidious assumption, still prevalent today, that in
education you cannot have quality without
exclusivity,
Sir John Daniel , Past-CEO, Commonwealth of Learning

5. Big Players of MOOCs are-
 edX:This resource offers free online courses and content, but is also committed to
conducting and publishing research about how students learn, to help empower
educators around the world.
 Coursera: This company partners with leading universities worldwide to enable
students to take free courses around the world. The courses include lectures by
world-class professors and interactive elements to test understanding. Users are
able to progress at their own pace, making this an ideal resource for those with
other commitments who need to learn part-time.
 Udacity :Another website for free, interactive college courses, Udacity is different
because its courses are categorised by level of difficulty rather than subject. This
is particularly helpful for those looking to use online learning to master a
completely new skill like computer science or coding, as they can find a beginner’s
course well-suited to their needs and abilities.
 MIT Open Courseware: Ideal for older students, this pioneering programme from
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the most prestigious colleges in
the world, makes MIT courses available for the first time to anybody with internet
access.

6.  Open Learn: Also geared towards older students, this fantastic online resource
from the Open University is ideal for topping up or refreshing existing knowledge,
or taking a whole new course altogether. Interactive aspects, games, podcasts,
videos and articles make it a diverse and rich resource.
 Udemy: Udemy is a learning platform that allows anyone to create an online
course and deliver it to the world. It does not matter whether you are looking to
learn Yoga, Advanced Mathematics or Wine Tasting, there is someone on Udemy
offering the course. This is actually the platform we (Fractus Learning) use for
delivering our online courses for educators.
 Khan Academy :Probably the best-known of all online learning resources, and
with good reason, Khan Academy is a juggernaut of online knowledge – a
massive online classroom with tutorials and lessons on every subject imaginable
available for absolutely anybody, anywhere, to use completely free of charge.
 Futurelearn: Supported by all top most European university like university of
Leeds, Reading University and many more.and offered the great courses which
help to enhance your professional and personal knowledge.
Try these courses of your choice and enhance your knowledge.

7. BEST OF LUCK
Visit the below link
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20141004144520-118432068-enhance-your-professional-personal-skills-
mooc?trk=prof-post
By:
Yogender Singh Rana
Telecommunication Engineer
du(Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company),Dubai, UAE