Free Essay

The New Phenomenon of Online Education

In:

Submitted By halynakobuta
Words 1030
Pages 5
The New Phenomenon of Online Education
The era of the Internet created more than supportive environment for massive open online courses (MOOCs). They are earning praise for bringing outstanding college teaching to vast number of students who otherwise wouldn’t have access to it, including those in remote places and those in the middle of their careers. The online classes are also being promoted as a way to bolster the quality and productivity of teaching in general.
If we consider this question from perspective of expenses then MOOCs could considerably save costs for education since average prices to get a bachelor’s degree are quite high in different countries. Ukraine is not an exception despite the fact that mostly high education is free here. And many people worry that even as the cost of higher education has risen, its quality has fallen. Dropout rates are not that high, but many graduates don’t show much of evidence that college improved their critical-thinking skills. In Ukrainian IT sector usually it is not enough to graduate from a University with Master Degree in Computer Science to get a job. As usual such specialists need additional education or courses in order to extent their knowledge to meet the minimal requirements for junior software engineer. Internship could also be a case here. Very often MOOC could be a simple solution to get lacking knowledge.
Naturally there are people who have different opinions about MOOC phenomenon - proponents of MOOCs say the efficiency and flexibility of online instruction will offer a timely remedy. But not everyone is so enthusiastic about that. There were different versions of remote trainings and education that have failed over time (via post services, lessons by e-mails etc.). So is it different this time? Has technology at last advanced to the point where the revolutionary promise of distance learning can be fulfilled? There is no clear answer yet, but even at this preliminary early stage the strengths and weaknesses of this radically new form of education are coming into focus.
The Most Popular MOOCs
There are many platforms that offer online education. They are all unique in the ways they work and the courses they provide. Following link contains top 50 MOOC providers accordingly to OCR (Online Course Report) - http://www.onlinecoursereport.com/the-50-best-online-course-providers-of-2015/. Let’s look closer at some of them:

1. Coursera https://www.coursera.org/ Coursera is one of the most popular online course providers. It offers a wide range of courses in different languages from universities and organizations around the world. Together with many classic categories like mathematics, chemistry and art, there are courses of contemporary interest, for example, courses on ecology, nutrition and computer software engineering.
To sign up for a course a student needs to register on the website and choose a course. The general information about the course is provided. It has an information about the dates of the course, the course aim, materials, needed knowledge for the course and the amount of time the course will take. The course material is divided into weeks, with a quiz after each week. Many courses provide peer assessment, tasks that are graded not by a computer program but by your own classmates of the course. Most of the courses provide a certificate of accomplishment after course completion. Often, there’s a Verified Certificate available, which can be included in someone’s CV. Each course has a discussion forum. All courses are free, except a Verified Certificate.
2. EdX https://www.edx.org/ EdX is another large platform that provides courses from universities, colleges and organizations. It has a large choice of topics from biology and history to business and statistics. Some courses on EdX are self-paced and some run at the planned time only. After the course is finished its material can still be available at the site. All the information on the course is provided on the front page for each course.
The courses on EdX are free, but a student will have to pay for a Verified Certificate.
3. FutureLearn https://www.futurelearn.com FutureLearn is another platform that provides free online courses from leading universities and cultural institutions.
FutureLearn has fewer courses than Coursera or EdX but the courses look fun, some of them have quite informal names. The front page of every course provides the information and the video about the course. All courses offer to a student a chance to communicate with your fellow learners and discuss different ideas. All courses on FutureLearn are free.
4. Udemy https://www.udemy.com Udemy is a platform with tons of different courses on topics from all spheres of life. They include not only classic knowledge, like marketing or math and science, but courses that focus on everyday spheres of life.
Courses are provided at a “pace yourself” schedule, which means there are no starting or finishing dates, so it’s up for a student when to finish the course.
Another interesting feature of Udemy is that a student can become an instructor himself, teach other people what he knows, and earn money while doing that.
Not all courses are free, but they can be filtered by languages, prices, levels and features.
5. NovoED https://novoed.com/courses NovoED provides courses from thought leaders and distinguished professors from top universities. It offers education in various categories like Business Strategy, Education, Humanities and Finance.
Although there are no introductory videos for the courses, all the information about dates, content and certificates is provided on the front page of each course.
Some courses on NovoED are paid and some are free.
6. Pluralsight Training

http://www.pluralsight.com/
Pluralsight offers over 1400 in-depth online courses on IT, design, and programming topics all of which are available on a subscription basis. They have a ton of learning paths, and a well-documented ecosystem of course creators, in which top instructor’s content is easily identifiable. A number of courses are geared directly towards leading industry certifications such as Cisco, Citrix, CompTIA, CWNP, Microsoft and VMWare.
All courses come with downloadable course components, assessments, and a forum through which allow discussion of courses issues publicly.

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Asdasdas

...The  Purdue  OWL:  Citation  Chart     Category   General  Approach   MLA   The  Modern  Language  Association   (MLA)  provides  a  method  for  source   documentation  that  is  used  in  most   humanities  courses.  The  humanities   place  emphasis  on  authorship,  so  most   MLA  citation  involves  recording  the   author’s  name  in  the  physical  text.  The   author’s  name  is  also  the  first  to  appear   in  the  “Works  Cited”  page  at  the  end  of   an  essay.  The  most  recent  MLA   formatting  can  be  found  in  the  seventh   edition  of  the  MLA  manual.   APA   The  American  Psychological  Association   (APA)  provides  a  method  for  source   documentation  that  is  used  in  most   social  sciences  courses.  The  social   sciences  place  emphasis  on  the  date  a   work  was  created,  so  most  APA  citation   involves  recording  the  date  of  a   particular  work  in  the  physical  text.  The   date  is  usually  placed  immediately  after   the  author’s  name  in  the  “References”   page  at  the  end...

Words: 4982 - Pages: 20

Premium Essay

Jejemon

...thoughts and ideas to communicate with others. In this modern era, language changes constantly. The language that we use today is getting wider and wider. Nowadays, youth; especially students are fond of using cyber gadgets like cell phones and computers to convey their messages and through these, they learned how to cope and change the way they convey their thoughts and ideas in different forms. Indeed, English proficiency is one of the important things that we need to practice. The proper usage of both Filipino and English language is one of the important aspects of Philippine education. Correct grammar, syntax and pronunciation are the main concerns of improving our language proficiency to maintain an effective communication locally and internationally, but due to the continuous development of language, the emergence of Jejemon words became a phenomenon in the Philippines especially on its online breakthrough on April 14, 2010 at Pinoy Tumblr. Jejemons are persons who use jumbled letters, alternating capitalization, rearranging letters in a word, over-usage of the letters H, X or Z and mixture of numeric characters and our normal Filipino and English alphabet as their developed...

Words: 3305 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

Jejemon

...thoughts and ideas to communicate with others. In this modern era, language changes constantly. The language that we use today is getting wider and wider. Nowadays, youth; especially students are fond of using cyber gadgets like cell phones and computers to convey their messages and through these, they learned how to cope and change the way they convey their thoughts and ideas in different forms. Indeed, English proficiency is one of the important things that we need to practice. The proper usage of both Filipino and English language is one of the important aspects of Philippine education. Correct grammar, syntax and pronunciation are the main concerns of improving our language proficiency to maintain an effective communication locally and internationally, but due to the continuous development of language, the emergence of Jejemon words became a phenomenon in the Philippines especially on its online breakthrough on April 14, 2010 at Pinoy Tumblr. Jejemons are persons who use jumbled letters, alternating capitalization, rearranging letters in a word, over-usage of the letters H, X or Z and mixture of numeric characters and our normal Filipino and English alphabet as their developed...

Words: 3305 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

The Effects of Jejemon Phenomenon in Language Proficiency

...life. It is used to express our thoughts and ideas to communicate with others. In this modern era, language changes constantly. The language that we use today is getting wider and wider. Nowadays, we use technology like cellphones and computers to convey our messages and through these, people are learning on how to cope up and change the way they convey their thoughts and ideas in different forms. Indeed, English proficiency is one of the important things that we need to practice. The proper usage of both Filipino and English language is one of the important aspects of Philippine education. Correct grammar, syntax and pronunciation are the main concerns of improving our language proficiency to maintain an effective communication locally and internationally, but due to the continuous development of language, the emergence of Jejemon words became a phenomenon in the Philippines especially on its online breakthrough on April 14, 2010 at Pinoy Tumblr. Jejemons are persons who use jumbled letters, alternating capitalization, rearranging letters in a word, over-usage of the letters H, X or Z and mixture of numeric characters and our normal Filipino and English alphabet as their developed written linguistic style that can...

Words: 11283 - Pages: 46

Free Essay

Moocs

...October 2013 Education Has a New Face A revolution in education caused by the expansion of what is called Massive Open Online Courses, or MOOCs, has brought change to higher education. MOOCs are online courses that are provided by some of the world’s prestigious universities, such as Stanford and Harvard, and that offer high quality learning at no cost. MOOCs classes are available for anyone around the globe with an access to the internet and a smart phone, tablet, or a computer. This phenomenon has spread in the virtual world and found success, and like any new concept, it will have side effects in which will be positive, such as spreading education, and negative, such as posing a threat to other education institutes. Internet revolution is the major cause of the expansion of the MOOCs. Tim Todd, education editor at the Financial Review, stated that “The internet revolution has moved to education as top universities worldwide rush to put free courses online, setting up so-called massive open online courses or MOOCs.” The internet is the median that is facilitating the access to MOOCs by students that are located anywhere on the planet. The barriers of time zone, geographical distant, and financial status have been reduced in the way of education. The way MOOCs are presented and accessed caused thousands of students worldwide to sign up and join the education train. Some of the top universities in the US realized the potential power of online education so they cooperated...

Words: 728 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Rapport de Stage

...Moroccan ‘Ghosts’ Employees: Is It a Real Phenomenon or a Rumor? By Rachid Khouya Morocco World News Es-Semara, Morocco, May 1, 2012 Among the serious problems our public administration suffers from is the phenomenon of ‘Ghost Staff’ or ‘Ghost Employees’. It is worth noting the origin of this terminology to contextualize the topic for readers. Since the 1990s, Moroccans have started to hear about the term ‘Ghost Staff’, which was coined within administrative circles to refer to other public employees who are certified, “in paper,” as full time staff for the public administrations, but who do not hold any work duties, “in reality”. In other words, they are engaged in other worldly activities and, sometimes, personal businesses, while securing their Government salaries and incomes at the end of the month. Today, this practice may still be in place and needless to say, it is unfair to public administration personnel who have to report to work and fulfill their work obligations to earn a living. Greek philosopher Socrates said “giving unequal rights to equal citizens is the heart of inequality.” This speaks to the reality of the Moroccan public administration and its unequal treatment. Nowadays, the new government’s validity is in question, because an escalating number of people are asking whether this phenomenon is true or not. If it is a reality, the government ought to reveal the names of those “ghosts” and to re-assess their rights to work to bring it in conformity with the labor...

Words: 536 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

E-Commerce Understanding

...Identify the major academic disciplines contributing to e-commerce. Key Terms e-commerce, p. 12 e-business, p. 13 information asymmetry, p. 14 marketplace, p. 16 ubiquity, p. 16 marketspace, p. 16 reach, p. 16 universal standards, p.16 richness, p. 17 interactivity, p. 17 information density, p. 17 personalization, p. 18 customization, p. 18 Web 2.0, p. 19 business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce, p. 22 business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce, p. 22 consumer-to-consumer (C2C) e-commerce, p. 22 social e-commerce, p. 22 mobile e-commerce (m-commerce), p. 23 local e-commerce, p. 23 Internet, p. 23 World Wide Web (the Web), p. 24 disintermediation, p. 32 friction-free commerce, p. 33 first mover, p. 33 network effect, p. 33 Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. 2 Brief Chapter Outline Opening Case: Pinterest: A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words 1.1 E-commerce: The Revolution Is Just Beginning The First Thirty Seconds What Is E-commerce? The Difference between E-commerce and E-business Why Study E-commerce? Eight Unique Features of E-commerce Technology Web 2.0: Play My Version Types of E-commerce Growth of the Internet and the Web Origins and Growth of E-commerce Insight on Technology: Spider Webs, Bow Ties, Scale-Free Networks, and the Deep Web Technology and E-commerce...

Words: 6285 - Pages: 26

Premium Essay

"Un"Social Networking

...internet connection, to be able to communicate with someone at our fingertips. It seems that social networking has altered the world for the better, but is that all there is to this phenomenon? Do we really benefit from social networking? Although social networking may have changed the world for the better, it may also have a negative impact on a person. Such issues as causing distraction among youth, changing the way a person interacts with other people, and causing health problems are some of the problems created from the technological advancement of this day and age. Social networks have been fabricated as the means of establishing and maintaining contacts and meetings in order to build online communities of people with similar interests and activities. These advancements could be more convenient for exchanging messages, following the latest trends, joining interest groups, and participating in real life events. Most know of the small-world phenomenon, soon after meeting a stranger, we are surprised to discover that we have a mutual friend, or we are connected through a short chain of acquaintances. In his article, Duncan Watts uses this intriguing phenomenon, colloquially called" six degrees of separation", as a prelude to a more general exploration.  With an ever growing social outlet, this phenomenon is giving youth an easier way to bridge the gap of being connected to most. A curious survey showed that 62% of people age 16 and older believe that dwelling in the virtual environment...

Words: 1099 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods Paper

...Running head: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS PAPER Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods Paper Obbie Brown University: Course: Tutor: Date: Appropriate Academic Research An appropriate academic research can be defined as the research and the experimental developments which comprise creative works which are conducted on a systematic basis with an aim of increasing the pool of an individual’s or a group’s knowledge. The knowledge could include the in-depth knowledge of mankind, culture and the society. The stock of knowledge is then used to devise alternative solutions to the existing problems (Brew & Lucas, 2009). Quantitative Research Quantitative form of research is predetermined and involves a large number of respondents. It involves objective measurements which are both quantitative and are statistically valid. Quantitative research entails hard and objective data. Quantitative research seeks to quantify data and generalize the results from the predetermined sample to the target population. It also aims at measuring the incidence of various views and opinions in a given sample (Balnaves & Caputi, 2001). Qualitative Research Qualitative research involves the collection, analysis and interpretation of data through the application of the observatory techniques as well as listening to peoples’ opinions. While quantitative research entails the counts and measures of phenomena, the qualitative research...

Words: 1081 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

African American Achievement Gap

...and students of highly concentrated poverty - low academically performing African American public schools. Thirty two parents and thirty two students from eight low performing-poverty schools in the research study will be interviewed and surveyed online. Collected information and data will be researched employing qualitative and quantitative practices. Introduction There was a time when children of color were denied the hope and expectation of equal education because of racial isolation and discrimination in America’s education system. Although it’s been well over 50 years since Brown –vs.- The Board of Education which established equal education for all, today we are still faced with large racial disparities in reading and math proficiency between African American children and their thriving white contemporaries. This purpose of this study is to illustrate the connection that occurs between race and poverty with the academic achievement gap of low socioeconomic African American students in our public school system. The qualitative and quantitative research will present vital information showing the common but detrimental factors from the perspective of their parents who are living daily through the trenches of this phenomenon we call the achievement gap. It will answer the question: What are the underlying...

Words: 3689 - Pages: 15

Premium Essay

Online Education Advantages And Disadvantages

...and completion have been critical problems for all postsecondary programs and especially acute for programs delivered by online education (Abel, 2005; Bowen, Kurzweil, Tobin, & Pichler, 2005; Newman, Couturier, & Scurry, 2004). The research conducted by The Corporate University Xchange (2000) indicated that retaining learners is one of the difficult challenges of online learning programs. Indeed, 70 percent of adult learners enrolled in a corporate online program were reported not to complete the course (Meister, 2002) and it also was found by Carr (2000) that the dropout rates for online university courses 10% to 20% higher than traditional college classroom courses. As "The costs of development, delivery, and assessment, as well...

Words: 885 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Higher Education

...M.S MARKETINGBRANDING DR. OSMAN KHANUNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL PUNJAB | HIGHER EDUCATION | LITERATURE REVIEW | HAFSA KHAN L1F15MSMK0007SAIRAZAKIR L1F15MSMK00085/28/2016 | LITERATURE REVIEW: THE CONCEPT OF BRANDING IN HIGHER EDUCATION Bennett and Ali-Choudhury ( 2007 p4 ) suggest that a university brand is “a manifestation of the institution’s features that distinguish it from others , reflect its capacity to satisfy students’ needs, engender trust in its ability to deliver a certain type and level of higher education, and help potential recruits to make wise enrolment decisions”. Stamp (2004) gives a number of factors for higher education (HE) branding agenda,that includes;tuition fees, competitive differentiation, league tables, organizations attaining university status and the miss-match between brand perceptions and delivery. Researchers have to continually ask why some organizations are more successful than others in brand building in order to understand branding.(Urde, 2003). It has been suggested that “Higher Education Institutions need to be managed more and more as corporate brands” (Whelan & Wohlfeil, 2006, p317), but instead of the fact that there is a large number of studies that examined image and reputation, the notion of branding has very little marks on higher education marketing literature (HemsleyBrown and Oplatka, 2006) and empirical papers that relate to HE branding are scarce (Hemsley-Brown and Goonawardana...

Words: 2644 - Pages: 11

Premium Essay

Fafafas

...each other changed because of technology. In what ways has technology affected the types of relationships people make? Has this become a positive or negative development? It is true that nowadays technology rules the world. Undoubtedly, human interaction has been influenced through introduction of new technological devices. Obviously, there are positive and negative impacts on people communication that technology is responsible for. First of all, absolute advantage is that technology makes the world move faster. To support, speed of daily business interactions increasing all the time. Internet, mobile phones, online conferences significantly saves time on solving any business issues such as contract agreement, recruitment procedures or client attraction. Introduction of new software or modified machines boosts volumes of production as well as it saves time. Moreover, technology overcomes distance obstacle tremendously. For instance, use of mobile phones, internet provides people with the opportunity to find new friends all over the world, without leaving own apartment and stay connected with relatives while studying or working abroad. On the other hand, introduction and popularity of new technological devices may have harmful impact on human interaction. It is mentioned that people prefer spending their time using personal gadgets over real face to face communication. This problem has already become global issue. Many governmental bodies introduce social advertising campaign in order...

Words: 1691 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Stakeholder's Proposal

...that involves approximately 125 Harvard students has provoked serious concerns about higher education system, not only within the U.S borderlines but also on a worldwide scale. The story became a hot dispute, being featured in various front page articles. It may come out as a surprise to many that the school was the most vulnerable to these mass-media attacks, rather than the students. For quite a period following the incident, when the name Harvard was mentioned, people immediately associated it with unethical behaviors instead of its well-established academic background. Furthermore, the problem did not simply ruin the reputation of a single university: the entire system was exposed under suspicions. Public trust in the real quality of education has dropped drastically ever since the Harvard scandal, prior to which was another in Atlanta public schools where high-stakes test results were counterfeited. To eradicate the epidemic has become a major challenge for the entire system, calling for efforts from all concerning parties: authorities, institutions, teachers, students, even their parents. Nevertheless, taking the widespread impact on the higher education industry into considerations, it is highly recommended that universities and colleges should be the first to take steps in the fight against academic dishonesty. “Cheating” in schools is a relatively broad concept. The phenomenon can take complicated forms, ranging from copying and unethical collaborations between students...

Words: 1949 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

E Business

...internet security 7 2.2.2 Credit problem 8 2.2.3 Traditional ideas 10 3. Conclusion 12 4. Recommendations 13 4.1 Perfecting the internet security system 13 4.2 Improving the credit 13 4.3 Enhancing the education and advertising of e-business 14 List of Figures and Tables Table 1. The internet user growth rate from 2005 to 2008 5 Finger 1. Online payment user in 2008 6 Table 2. Malicious activity by country from 2008 to 2009 7 Figure 2. China’s e-business trust issues in 2006 9 Figure 3. The distribution of online payment users’ age 10 Figure 4. The distribution of population in China in 2007 11 1. Introduction 1.1 Aim The aim of this report is to investigate the causes of low development of e-business in China. The purpose is to provide recommendations to the Chinese Economic Research Centre and Chinese Government in order to improve this phenomenon. 1.2 Background Electronic business (E-business) is a new style of business model that is a commercial activity on the internet. In recent years, e-business is increasingly used. However, many problems also exist in e-business. This phenomenon is caused despite the fact that commercial activity on the internet is easy to use, fast and efficient, the distance of trade is long and traders are not face to face. The e-business has security problems because of technology. Therefore, the development...

Words: 1898 - Pages: 8