What’s a MOOC?

On February 12, 2015, in UWindsor, Video, Workshops/Courses, by gregorynpaziuk

It’s highly likely that this blog’s crowd is already on the up and up about MOOCs (Massively Open Online Courses). But those of us that don’t consider ourselves tech-savants might not be as familiar with what MOOCs are all about.

For those of you that have never heard the term before, we’re talking about large-scale courses that are made available (and often free) to the general public through online platforms. But of course, there’s more to it than that, including whether or not the course is synchronous (live) or asynchronous (static), whether it offers a certificate upon completion or just a friendly “congrats.” Dave Cormier offers this brief explanation of MOOCs:

It just so happens that UWindsor recently entered into the MOOC game (and hey, its first MOOC is connected to the UWill Discover conference!). The Office of Open Learning recently launched its very first MOOC, which focuses on encouraging undergraduate research.

I’d be foolish to neglect mentioning the debate swirling around MOOCs, which generally splits people into three camps: those who hate MOOCs, those who love them, and those that see both good and bad in them. Come to your own opinion, but I tend to align more with the last camp.

There are MOOCs out there on just about every topic imaginable – from Chemistry 101 to “Basic Accounting.” There are a number of sites out there that collect these MOOCs and updates about them, including mooc.ca and mooc-list.com.