Is the Quest for Accreditation a Worthwhile Aim?

Over the few years of the MOOC revolution, one thread has run throughout: the quest for accreditation or credit transfer. Every survey indicates that students would welcome formal credit for their on line courses but when such schemes are available diminishingly few ever take them up. So how can we square this apparent paradox and does accreditation actually matter?

The problem is that most MOOC students have absolutely no intention of using the courses they take in any formal academic situation--even if it were possible. The research suggests that the overwhelming majority of students already hold first degrees and a significant proportion hold higher degrees. I suspect that most answer positively when asked about accreditation simply because it seems like a 'good thing'. Maybe I don't want or need it but others might.

Another factor that may be driving apparent student support for accreditation is one of quality assurance. If a course is accepted for credit by a reputable body then that gives some confidence that it meets objective academic standards. Even if we are only taking courses for fun or personal development it gives us a nice warm glow to know that it is valued by others.

There is one other reason, rarely commented on, for the relative lack of interest in credit transfer and that is the US-centric nature of such schemes. At best, most schemes achieve an ACE (American Council on Education) recommendation which basically suggests colleges might want to consider giving credit for a course. However, this applies only in the US and so is pretty meaningless to the large section of students who live elsewhere. I should add that pilot schemes here in the UK have fared no better; a MOOC run by Edge Hill University (coincidentally, where I completed my graduate teaching qualification), the first to offer UK university credits, failed to persuade any of its students to pay for the certificate--not even the participant who subsequently enrolled on a full degree program at Edge Hill (for which he paid £9,000 per year).

For all the reasons outlined above, I have been quite dismissive of accreditation, noting that it added little value in employment terms and was irrelevant to most students. However. . . as those who have read my previous post will know, there has recently been a seismic shift in the landscape of credit bearing courses in the form of a full degree based fairly and squarely on free online courses. Now this may only be a first step (and, in fairness, I should add the Thomas Edison State College launched an Associate Degree programme, again using Saylor Academy courses, almost two years ago) but it suddenly brings into sharper focus the potential value of accreditation where that can form a significant part of a full programme of study. I still have reservations about the value of accrediting individual courses, even for those in or about to enter higher education but it is difficult to argue that a $5,000 degree doesn't offer good value.

Saylor Academy and the $5,000 Fully Accredited Bachelor's Degree

Back in the dawn days of MOOCs (ie 2012) there was much talk of the impact these disruptive innovations would have on the traditional academic world. Four years later and there was little sign of this coming to fruition. . . until 12 January. On that date Saylor Academy announced a new partnership which signalled a radical rethink in the costs of acquiring a fully accredited Bachelor's degree. For just $5,000 it is now possible to gain a Bachelor's degree issued by a recognised US university. Wow!

The programme is a rather complicated patchwork of input from three different organisations: Saylor Academy, who provide half the course content overall, Qualifi, a UK-based award issuing body who will accredit the Saylor courses (and provide their own courses in the third year), and City Vision University who present courses in the second and final years and award the actual degree. Given the difficulties in getting courses recognised and the added complication of credit transfer between bodies in different countries it took bold vision on the part of all three partners to put together this package.

Let's look a bit more closely at the details. Firstly, it should be said that there is only one major on offer--Business--although there are two optional tracks, Business Enterprise (Entrepreneurship) or Business Management in the third year. Next, this is planned as a four year programme of study but there is considerable flexibility to extend or reduce the timescales. Finally, payment is modular; you only pay for the courses as you take them and there are no registration fees. This means that the first year costs only a few hundred dollars. This gives a low risk entry point for those who have been out of education for a while and want to test the waters but could provide valuable evidence of commitment to potential sponsors.

The programme relies heavily on Saylor Academy courses. Ten are to be taken in the first year, five in the second and a further five in the fourth year. These courses themselves are entirely free and all required (electronic) texts are supplied free of charge. There is a fee for the remote proctoring (invigilation, in UK terms) of the exam for each course. This service is provided by an independent organisation and currently costs $25 per exam (but this may well increase a little--which is why the official figures seem to be a little higher).

Qualifi endorse the Saylor courses and rolls them into recognised UK qualifications (which means the student also collects a Level 4 Certificate and Level 5 Diploma along the way). The fee for this and the production of a transcript is $100. They also run the third year of the degree programme comprising six instructor led courses in one of two tracks: Business Enterprise or Business Management. This costs $800 for accreditation and course support.

City Vision University pop up in the second year where they provide five instructor led courses (which, incidentally, also completes the required programme for an Associates Degree if that is as far as you want to go) costing a total of $1,300 for tuition. They reappear in the final year with another five senior-level courses costing $2,000 and, of course, also issue the Bachelor's Degree to successful students.

Now that all seems a bit complicated so I'll offer two summaries. Firstly the course schedule:

• Year 1 
• 10 x Saylor courses
• Year 2
• 5 x Saylor courses
• 5 x City Vision courses
• Year 3
• 6 x Qualifi courses
• Year 4
• 5 x Saylor courses
• 5 x City Vision courses

And the costs:

Associate’s Degree Cost

$600 Saylor Proctoring Fees

$100 Qualifi Credit Endorsement and Transcript Fee

$1,300 City Vision Tuition: 5 Associate’s Degree Courses

$2,000 Total Two Year Cost of Associate’s Degree

Bachelor’s Degree Cost

$2,000 Cost of Associate’s Degree

$800 Qualifi tuition & accreditation + Athena support for Year 3

$200 Saylor Proctoring Fees in Year 4

$2,000 City Vision Tuition for 5 Courses in Year 4

$5,000 Total Four Year Cost of Bachelor’s Degree

Saylor courses are self-paced and can be taken at any time. Qualifi offer multiple presentations per year and City Vision's 8 week courses run five times per year. So, in principle, students could take longer than the schedule suggests or work faster and complete in a shorter time. However, remember this is effectively a full-time study load. Saylor courses, for example, have guidance times of 110-120 study hours which makes for 25-30 hours per week in the first year.

I was amazed when I saw this programme first announced. The total cost is around a third of the tuition fees for a single year at a conventional university here in the UK! Nothing I have heard since from Saylor or City Vision (both of whom were kind enough to answer some of my questions) has changed my view that this is really an astounding opportunity. Entry is open, there are no prerequisites or admissions selection processes, it is available worldwide* (at least to anyone with internet access), costs are modular and the first year costs are less than the price of a coffee and muffin per week (at least here in the UK), City Vision have also confirmed that they do not plan to have any cap on registration numbers. In total students can gain UK Level 4 and 5 Diplomas, a US Associates Degree and a Bachelor's degree--and all from the comfort of their own home.

I admit that I am sorely tempted if only for the novelty value of having a US-awarded degree on my CV!

* I am guessing that US sanctions may exclude students from one or two countries but I've not yet had that confirmed. I'll update this if I receive any more information.

The Changing Face of MOOCs

It has been a little while since I last posted (two years--really?) and so it is not surprising that there have been a number of changes. What is perhaps more surprising is the relatively slow rate of evolution. Given all the excitement engendered by the launch of the first MOOCs (the New York Times called 2012 "The Year of the MOOC") we might have expected to see an explosion in the number of courses and student enrolments, innovative approaches on both existing and new platforms, and a growing acceptance of MOOCs by both colleges and employers. The reality has been rather less earth-shattering and distinctly more incremental.

In this first post of 2016 I'll just touch on a few areas of change and look at some broader issues. I'll return to discuss them in more detail in later postings. To capture two years in a few words, I would characterise 2014 as a year of consolidation and 2015 as a period of restructuring.

2014 saw very few significant changes in the MOOC marketplace. The two major players, Coursera and edX, continued to expand their range of courses. Among the smaller players Futurelearn, which had debuted in late 2013, collected more partners but failed to make a big impact on the world scene while Open2Study seemed to stall offering no new courses at all. Udacity had effectively left the MOOC field in late 2013 'pivoting' its offering towards paid vocational courses.

Both Coursera and edX had introduced versions of verified certificates in 2013 and continued to promote them in 2014. As the only successful revenue source for MOOCs to date this was particularly important for Coursera who were relying on a substantial raft of venture capital in order to keep afloat. Once again mirroring each other, both the major players had also introduced the concept of sequences of related courses building towards an overall certification, XSeries in the case of edX and Specializations for Coursera. 2014 saw the steady growth of such sequences. During 2014 these sequences were mainly constructed from existing or already planned courses.

So 2014 really saw nothing too dramatic happening. A few courses here and there gained (US) college accreditation but there were not the seismic shifts predicted by some in the education industry. So how did 2015 shape up? More of the same or some surprises?

2015 will, I suspect, be seen as the year when finances really started becoming a central concern. If in nothing else, this can be seen in the attitude of providers towards free certificates. By the close of 2015 both edX and Coursera had essentially stopped issuing free certificates. This can only be explained as being a response to the need to promote their verified certificates. The problem both had faced was that the verified certificates offered little advantage to students: colleges weren't interested in non-accredited courses and employers, frankly, didn't care so long as candidates had skills that they wanted. The only way to persuade more students to pay for certificates was simply to remove the option of free certification.

Coursera finally began to update its user interface and move, as I predicted a couple of years ago, towards self-paced courses. Although synchronous ('cohort-based' in Coursera's terms) courses continued to be offered they were outstripped by the growth of self-paced courses, many built on the resources originally produced for what are already being called 'traditional' MOOCs. The new interface looked a lot slicker but seemed to perform less well in terms of functionality. Forums, previously the heart of Coursera, were curiously side-lined (with some courses having no forums) while the peer assessment system was also changed to accommodate the greater flexibility required for self-paced courses. One rather odd decision was the removal of anonymity of peers; not only does the reviewer know the identity of the student they are assessing but the student also knows who marked their work.

Over at the Saylor Academy, a resource that is shamefully under-promoted, radical changes were underway. In late summer of 2014 it had been announced that there were some 'mainly cosmetic' changes coming up. By early 2015 it became apparent that these changes were 'root and branch' rather than cosmetic. Having rapidly expanded their portfolio of courses, built around the idea of duplicating the ten most popular US college majors, to over 300 they found that the money generously provided by their benefactor Michael Saylor simply didn't run to supporting such an ambitious programme.

Saylor decided, therefore, to cut down to around a third of the previous total focusing their efforts on two full college curricula (Computing and Business) and a selection of other courses for which they had been successful in obtaining accreditation. Although I am on record of being sceptical in regard to accreditation of MOOC courses dramatic events in the first weeks of 2016 (about which I'll write on another day) were to force me to reappraise my position. Saylor also moved the surviving courses on to a new Moodle-based platform and introduced a rather better forum system.

In some ways 2015 was disappointing for MOOC enthusiasts; free certificates disappearing, platforms shrinking (Saylor Academy) or apparently going into suspended animation (Open2Study) and still no real progress on accreditation (for those who cared) or a real answer to the ultimate question, "Who pays the bills?"

Maybe 2016 will be more exciting. . .

The Lifelong Learner's Ten Top Tips for Effective Study with MOOCs

From discussions on various courses it is apparent that many of those taking part have either been out of formal education for some time or never really put too much thought into the study process in the first place! Here are my top tips for effective study online. Some of these apply to any study and come from my own experience as a student and a High School teacher, others are specific to online learning and have been developed to take into account research findings and, of course, my own experience.

I make no claims to have any earth-shattering secrets but, if you apply these ideas, you should find that you make more effective use of  your study time and faster progress. As with all study, the more you put in, the more you will take out - so good luck.

1. Set up folders on your computer or online to keep your electronic files together and in order (I have one for each course which, in turn has a folder for each Unit or week). Keep your paper files in equally good order! Having an orderly filing system will mean you can find information more quickly which is important for revision and during exams (which are invariably 'open book'). These files will also be your main reference after the  course is finished so look after them - hopefully, you'll want to use the information again.

2. Set aside some undisturbed time, ideally on a regular schedule (I know, dream on) and try to work in the same place. Having a settled routine and a regular study environment helps to focus the mind and improves recall (honestly, it does). I know that one of the attractions of MOOCs is that you can study as and when time allows but, although this makes use of time which might otherwise be wasted, it really isn't as good as settled study. I should admit that I do about 25-30% of my study in odd short bursts between other tasks but ideally... 

3. Make notes. Depending on your preferences either buy yourself some new notepads and pens (or pencils!) or polish up your latest note-taking software. Make notes regularly as you work through the material. Especially for the video lectures, finding your way back to review something without notes can be quite difficult. 

4. Download videos and audio lectures rather than streaming so they are available for review even if you are offline. Remember that materials may disappear quite soon after a course completes and since most MOOCs are built around video lectures you could find yourself left with only pleasant memories... If your course doesn't offer the facility to download the lectures but uses YouTube videos then find yourself a downloader with which you are comfortable (I use YTD Downloader without any snags). 

5. Plan your time. Mark any due dates for assessments in your planner, either on your computer (or online) or in your desk diary. Be realistic about the time you have available and leave some 'contingency time' for when things go wrong. Working around any set dates, decide how much time each course needs and divide up the time and work to allow you to be ready in good time to submit your assessments. Don't forget to mark in your holidays or you may find yourself falling out with your loved ones! When you are planning your study time...

6. Don't try to work in big continuous blocks - it just isn't efficient. Normally no more than an hour is recommended on a single topic. Either take a break or switch subjects - one hour of Computer Science then half an hour of Psychology. A hidden benefit of the General Education requirement (should you be a Saylor student), is that you will always have 'something else' to study!

7. Review your notes regularly. Try to structure and restructure the information in different ways to help learning and understanding. I like to use visual representations (I would say mindmaps but Tony Buzan has registered that as a trademark!), you might just want to summarise or bullet point, or transfer to study cards (does anyone else still do that) or anything that requires you to change the format around. This process of synthesis (taking information and putting it together in a new form) is one of the key ways to strengthen learning.

  

8. Do all the exercises. Nobody's looking over your shoulder to make sure you do but we're all adults now and surely know who will lose out if you take short cuts. As well as helping to secure learning, these exercises can be a useful resource later in revision.

9. Don't put it off.  Leaving a difficult exercise until the last minute won't make it any easier. If your course has a more relaxed attitude to deadlines (or is self-paced like most Udacity and all Saylor courses) this doesn't mean you should let things drag on. If you don't make regular progress then you will waste much of your study time reacquainting yourself with the previous material. If it is self-paced then set yourself targets and plan to meet them. But...

10. Be flexible. It can be difficult to judge time requirements when you are studying new subjects or have been away from study for a while. The guidelines given by course providers are quite good - for average students. 

If you find yourself struggling to keep up then take stock. Is it a short term problem, for example a difficult new concept or an overlap of courses for a couple of weeks, or a major miscalculation of time requirements? The former you can just ride out with a bit of extra time squeezed out somewhere. the latter means you need to make a decision. 

While I encourage everyone to keep going when problems crop up, you need also to be realistic. There is no penalty for dropping a course and it (or another similar) will be along shortly. Decide which courses are most important to you, maybe a later course will rely on one you are studying now, and which you can postpone. Make a decision and move on. Another option pretty much unique to the current online offerings is to move to an 'auditing' mode. That means you 'sit in' on the lectures but don't worry about assessments or deadlines. This can be useful if you plan to retake the course later or maybe if you just want some background before going on to related study areas.

11. Because ten is never enough. Remember why you are studying. Enjoy it and don't get too stressed.

Next time I'll be taking a closer look at the largest of the MOOC platforms, Coursera.

Saylor - A Five Step Programme

I've written a little about the overall structure of Saylor and something about the courses so this is just a short practical guide to getting started.

All courses are self-paced and open to enrolment at any time so you can jump in whenever you like. In fact, as I said last time, you don't actually need to enrol or even register on the site, you can just turn up and start learning! So where do you begin? A number of students seem to get confused simply  by the open nature; it is as if you arrived on your first day at university to find the doors flung open and a note saying 'help yourself'. So this is my five step guide to getting started:

Step 1: Click on the ePortfolio link at the the top of the page and register. you don't  have to but it will give more options - which I'll discuss in a later posting.

Step 2: While in your new ePortfolio, click on the 'Course Catalog' link. You'll now see in the centre of the screen a list of every course offered in order of course code from ARTH101 (Art History) to STS203 (History of Technology) and on the left (in large blue lettering) a list of Areas of Study (ie 'Majors') from Art History down to Psychology. Click on one of the Areas of Study and you'll see just the courses which contribute to that area. Browse around, see what interests you and take a look at the first units for a couple of courses.

Step 3: Back to your ePortfolio for a rest... 

Step 3A: If you have decided on an area of specialisation then click on the 'Areas of Study' tab and choose your area. Click on the area and you will be taken to a list of the required courses. Select as many or as few as you like to register immediately.

Step 3B: If you haven't decided yet or just want to complete one or two individual courses, click on 'Add a course' (which takes you right back to the Course Catalog) and click on the 'Enrol' button next to the courses you want.

Step 4: Back in your ePortfolio, click on the 'Courses' tab, if you're not already there, then on the course that you want to study first.

Step 5: Start at Unit 1 and keep going....

Good luck with your studies and next time I'll offer a few hints and tips on how to make the most effective use of your time.

Saylor: Close Up on the Courses

As I promised, I'll look in a bit more detail at Saylor's courses this time. We obviously can't go through every unit of every course but I'll try to give a flavour of how learning works in this environment.

Getting started. There's no need to register (although the ePortfolio adds useful functionality), just choose the course you want and start. The courses are all laid out in the same way on screen so once you've found your way around the first course you are set! Each course starts with sections for the Purpose of Course, Course Information, Learning Outcomes and Requirements. You will hopefully have looked at these when deciding whether to take the course. Here you can find the time estimate, which is normally around 100-120 hours, and any pre-requisites. You may also find information about the core texts. Some courses make extensive use of one or two (electronic) texts which it might make sense to download as single complete volumes at the start rather than collecting endless separate chapters and excerpts.

Jumping into the first unit you will find that it is broken down into numbered sections and sub-sections. Click on anything which is blue and it will expand with further information or  instructions and links to resources. You might be told to read certain parts of a linked document, watch a video (in whole or part) or listen to an audio recording. Around about this point you begin to realise that somebody is taking this all very seriously. The work really is at college/university level. 

The materials. One thing you will notice straight away is that the resources used are generally hosted elsewhere and come from a wide range of sources. There are some Saylor originated pieces - mainly introductions, summaries or bridging pieces but the general policy is to use existing freely available resources. This can lead to a bit of a patchwork effect as you swap from book to book, site to site and lecturer to  lecturer. On the other hand it possibly reflects better the nature of  independent study and academic literature reviews at higher levels than would a course built entirely around a single book and a single lecturer (ie the typical undergraduate university pattern). I find it effective and stimulating, others might not like it so much. The quality of the materials is almost perfect; there are a very few pieces which really don't match the overall standard but Saylor are constantly reviewing courses so hopefully these will be improved as time goes by.

Let's look at POLSC101: Introduction to Politics. A nice gentle introductory course in the Gen Ed programme... It gets underway with a nine page reading from Jean-Marc Coicard on Political Legitimacy, followed by twenty nine pages of analysis of soft power under Obama then back to the 18th Century for twenty two pages from Jean Jacques Rousseau’s A Discourse on Political Economy followed up by two chapters from Harold D. Lasswell’s 1935 Politics: Who Gets What, When, How?. There are a few more readings and then a rest for an hour while you take in a video lecture. Finish off with two lengthy entries from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and it's time to complete the first assessment. Official 'Time Advisory', 11.5 hours. It took me over twice that although I did get tempted off into some interesting sidetracks.

Assessment activities within a course are generally self-assessed against supplied rubrics or have an answer sheet supplied. There's nobody looking over your shoulder so you can cheat if you like - but it is only yourself you are cheating so why bother. If you can't get to grips with self-assessment or just want some feedback you can try posting on the course forum. I should warn you that these are very quiet at the moment but are seeing more activity as students start to find Saylor. There are auto-graded activities on some courses. It depends what others have prepared and made available. 

The Final Exam is the only assessment which counts for the overall grade. This is a two hour machine-graded multiple choice quiz and, despite all my doubts, they are tough exams which dig into every corner of the courses. Exams are 'open book' but as the questions often require the student to apply the learning rather than just recall answers, this isn't always helpful. The pass mark is 70%. 

Again, to give an example, despite being an experienced teacher, examiner, a normally rapid examinee and despite having been coached by my wife, a doctor, psychology graduate and soon to be Master, I took nearly the whole two hours to get through the PSYCH101 paper and was happy to pass with 78%. That's nearly two and a half minutes per question. I'd normally expect to crash through multiple choice papers at a rate two to four times as rapid.

So what are the courses really like? They are true representations of the academic standards of mainstream universities - so expect to be challenged. You can also expect to spend quite some time on the courses. I've found the time estimates to be pretty good (even if I've taken longer where interests lead me astray) so one hundred hours plus for most courses. As in real life you must get through extensive readings alongside video lectures and other materials. There is a decent amount of variety within courses and they are well put together.

What do I like? I like the challenging standards, the readings (because this is how I learn best) and the fact that the courses are part of an overall structure. I quite like the self-paced nature of the courses although this also leads to temptation... One of the major assets is the staff, both administrative and academic. Queries are usually answered quickly and Professors are prowling the boards on a daily basis.

What don't I like? The place is far too quiet - too many course forums have no postings at all! As you might guess from this blog, I like to talk! The nature of the site means that some resources disappear from time to time (these are highlighted as red text). I've not come across any in my own studies... yet! There are a few rough edges on the system software, such as the sporadic requests to sign in as you move between courses, ePortfolio and forums but nothing too drastic. 

What would I like even more? More courses (how about a Physics or Electrical Engineering major and what about the French, Spanish and Russian language courses that have been 'due shortly' for the last year), more students and more attractive certificates (I know, it's trivial and below me but even so, they look like they were designed in Microsoft Publisher over a coffee break - and they misspell 'verification').

Conclusion. To go back to my comment in the last posting, the courses are great. If you want real learning in a fairly traditional style then get down to Saylor.org and take a look at what they have to offer. Whether you want to sign up for a full four year 'degree' or just pop in to use part of one course then you are free to do so. The academic style may not suit everybody (but that is true of all university study) and the self-paced nature does mean you need more self-discipline but it really is well worth it.

Next time, a quick Five Step Guide to getting started on Saylor. After that I'll move on to some hints and tips for more effective studying whichever platform you choose.

Saylor.org - The Gem Hidden in Plain Sight

My topic for the next couple of postings is Saylor.org. A site that offers nearly 300 undergraduate courses and the unique opportunity to build a programme of study that emulates a full US-style four year degree - and all for free! The question that you should be asking (because it's the question I have asked) is why, if it is so great, has nobody heard of it?

The Saylor Foundation (more about this later) has been involved in free education for some years but only set out on its current mission about eighteen months ago. Their goal is to provide free, quality education to anyone with internet access.  Saylor has taken a quite different approach to this task than the better known platforms such as Coursera or edX. Rather than offering a haphazard assortment of courses supplied by existing universities, Saylor has recruited it's own academic staff (on a consulting basis) to construct a coherent set of courses based primarily on existing freely available online resources. 

The initial, and ambitious, target was to cover the most popular subject areas in US colleges. Rather than starting with a handful of courses and gradually growing, Saylor opened on day one with over two hundred courses (although, in fairness, not all were complete). There are now courses offered providing the opportunity to 'major' in fourteen different subjects from Computer Science to Art History and Mechanical Engineering to Psychology. There are also a range of Electives which basically cover odds and ends that don't fit into existing specialisations (Astronomy, for example) and General Education which provides for the requirement to study outside your own specialist area (this is a standard part of the US four year degree although unknown here in the UK).

So what is it like? Firstly, I should say that it is quite unlike the more 'flashy' MOOC platforms. It is rather conservative in appearance and has an beautifully uniform design across every course. Everything you see says that this is a serious academic venture and, as we shall see, that is borne out by the courses themselves.  Clicking on any of the Areas of Study (as the specialist subjects are known) will take you to a page detailing the courses necessary to build a degree majoring in that subject - these include mandatory core courses as well as electives which can take the degree down different specialist tracks. As I mentioned, to complete the full programme you will also need to undertake the Gen Ed element.

Saylor is totally open-source; materials can be used as the students wish (subject to whatever limitations the original suppliers had although most are issued under Creative Commons licences). Students need not even register to access the courses although you will have to do so if you want to take the exams and collect your certificates. Registering will also give you access the discussion forums and to an ePortfolio where you can manage your courses, showcase your work and form study groups.

So what about the courses? Well, I'll go into more detail about the courses in tomorrow's posting but for today I'll start with the conclusion - they're great! The courses are very much at the level I would expect for undergraduate study, unlike some other MOOC offerings which are rather watered down. They are heavyweight and satisfying with plenty meat to them (apologies to my vegetarian friends for the metaphor). Unlike virtually any other courses I've seen online there are substantial required readings as well as the usual video lectures. There are no concessions and no kid gloves - this is the real thing.

If you are serious about learning then you won't find much better than Saylor. Go and take a look then come back tomorrow for my next instalment where I'll look at some of the courses and report on my experiences as a student there.

Who's Who in the World of MOOCs

Now we have the general idea of what these MOOC things are, let's take a quick look at some of the main players.


Coursera is probably the biggest of the MOOC providers with close to four hundred courses on offer and millions of registered students. Courses are all free and share a common user interface. The content is supplied by a wide range of universities, mainly US-based but increasingly worldwide. Subscribing institutions include the University of Pennsylvania, John Hopkins University, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of London and Princeton University among many others.

Courses are based around weekly video lectures and typically include both machine-graded and peer-evaluated  assessment elements. Most courses issue 'statements of accomplishment' to those who meet the requirements and a few go further to mark the highest achievers 'with Distinction'. A small minority of course providers do not permit such certificates to be issued, most notably including Princeton and Yale.

edX is non-profit set up by MIT and Harvard to compete head on with the likes of Coursera and Udacity (both for-profit spin-offs from Stanford). It currently has around 60 courses running or upcoming. It is expected to have many more coming up soon as some 29 universities from around the world have joined. Among those joining the founding institutions are Berkeley, Rice, University of Toronto, Cornell and Kyoto University.

Courses follow a similar pattern being based around weekly lectures and assignments. Peer assessment seems much less common on edX than is the case with Coursera. Certificates of Achievement are issued by all courses and marked with both the names of both edX and the sponsoring university. Courses typically run from 5 to 12 weeks in length and require 5-15 hours study time although this obviously depends on the individual.

Udacity is the third of the big high profile providers and arose from the same pilot-work at Stanford that spawned Coursera. Like Coursera, it is a for-profit business although they have not yet settled on a monetisation plan. Most of Udacity's courses were produced internally but they have recently partnered with San Jose State University to offer a small number of courses with the option of earning college credit, to which we will return in a moment.

Courses are generally self-paced,that is,the student can proceed as fast or as slow as suits their needs and abilities.  The exceptions to this are the San Jose 'for credit' option courses where students must work to the schedule for lectures and assessments. Udacity courses are notable for having extremely short lectures slices, typically one or two minutes, interspersed with single question quizzes. How you get on with this presentation style will depend on the individual. Certificates of Achievement are provided for all courses. Courses are free to students but the SJSU college credit option cost $150 for administration costs etc. 

Other options exist, there are new providers such as Open2Study in Australia and an offering sponsored by the Open University in Britain, Futurelearn, which is due to launch later this year. I'll return to these in later posts.

Saylor.org is the last provider that I want to mention today and it is last because it is rather different. Saylor.org is a charitable trust sponsored by Michael J. Saylor with the aim of providing free educational access for all. Operating from 2008 in the Open Education Resources field it has latterly moved into online education and now has an unusual and impressive offering. Two things make Saylor different, the use of existing open access material and the attempt to emulate a full US-style four year degree programme.

Saylor's aim is to offer, free of charge, programmes that match the most popular US college courses and majors. They currently offer just under three hundred courses, the vast majority at undergraduate level. Students may enroll in an 'Area of Study ' and be guided through a full programme including major core and electives courses and a General Education requirement.

I'm a big fan of Saylor and will be returning to talk more about them next time.