Everything you always wanted to know about MOOCs and never dared to ask

First things first: MOOC stands for Massive Open Online Courses.

Some consider it the greatest technological innovation in the field of education in the last two centuries, because they provide an answer to the increasing demand for access to training which is self-taught, personalized and open, allowing free universal access to university education.

Developed by universities and business schools around the world, open to all Internet users, free and without any prerequisites, more than 10 million people have already studied a MOOC.

What is their secret? The MOOC are like many other virtual courses with online learning which include the following: they have set content, they follow a program, they include activities and have channels to connect with the teacher.

The methodology is usually very flexible, with short videos, materials to download, tests and interaction, a lot of interaction. The fact that tens of thousands of people are doing a course at the same time opens up great possibilities for the virtual community to support one another and to give the student a voice so they can contribute, collaborate and interact. The MOOC have a lot of shared knowledge.

The interest is undeniable. Consider for a moment the possibility of occupying a free virtual desk at Harvard, Yale or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Well, there are more than 200 universities and more than 1,300 teachers who offer this training in a sector in which, moreover, Spain is an indisputable leader. Isn’t that intriguing?

Some MOOC platforms that we recommend

• Miríada has 72 courses in Spanish and Portuguese.
• edX has 688 courses in English, Spanish, Chinese and French.
• Iversity has 99 courses in both English and German.
• Open 2 study has 48 courses in English.
• Coursesites has 50 courses in English and Spanish.
• Udacity, have 111 courses in English.
• FutureLearn has 170 courses in English.
• NovoED, 61 cursos en inglés.
• Khan Academy offers 800 courses in English.
• OpenLearninghas 862 courses in English.
• Eliademy has more than 1,500 multi-language courses.
• Courseraoffers 1466 courses in English, Spanish, Chinese, French and Brazilian.
• Canvas, has 64 courses in English.
• Udemy,has 2,330 multi-language courses.
• Stanford online offers 68 online courses in English.

The recommendation of experts in talent Ferrovial

Remember

Learning is an action that lasts a lifetime.

So, take advantage of the great advantage of being an adult and not having to follow set classes and courses that are set out for you. Devise your own personal training plan; for pure satisfaction, personal growth or professional development. At your own pace, in the place and at the time that you choose.

On your own, because it is you who chooses to watch a video, to read an article or to listen to a lecture. Without barriers, because there are no timetables or classrooms. The only limit is your wifi connection… or your data tariff.

And how about you, what do you want to learn today? Have you signed up to an online course?