Online courses are becoming important for international students for achieving higher education from western countries. In recent years, as technology has developed, a new type of course, MOOC [massive open online course], has challenged the traditional ways of getting education.
MOOC has grown really fast in very short time by providing high quality college courses for students from around the world.
International students prefer MOOC classes because they can take classes online, wherever and whenever they want. MOOC courses are available to anyone with the internet connection.
The bigger players offering MOOC courses have hundreds of courses, as diverse as basic algebra to advanced molecular biology.
Several websites are offering MOOC courses but they have significant differences among them. Many online classes and courses are available for free but some websites have started charging fees for courses.
There are five major websites offering online courses.
EdX
EdX has developed technology to offer interactive online classes in MOOC courses from the world’s best universities, colleges and organizations.
EdX was created by Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2012.
It offers courses in subjects including science, technology, business, arts and many more. Online courses are available from MITx, HarvardX, BerkeleyX, UTx and many other universities.
Interestingly you can audit a course on EdX — meaning you don’t take exams or do writing assignments — or you can fulfill all of the requirements to earn a certificate of completion.
EdX is a non profit venture.
Coursera
This was started by a professor at the Stanford University. Currently it is offering more than 500 courses from over 100 universities around the world.
Yale, Duke, Wisconsin and the University of Chicago are among the participants, as are the University of Edinburgh and the École Polytechnique in France.
Coursera is commercial venture but it offers all courses for free. Coursera hopes to generate revenue from other ways.
They do not have auditing a class but students can do it at their choice.
FutureLearn
FutureLearn is a private company owned by The Open University, UK. The Open University has 40 years of experience in distance learning and online education.
This is more UK university focused and offers variety of courses from top class universities from UK.
Udacity
Courses offered by Udacity are limited and focused on science, math and engineering. However they are growing in to the business and psychology courses too.
This is commercial venture started by multiple people and also have received VC funding.
Their courses are open courses and can be taken any time they want. They are entirely self-paced:
Udemy
Udemy offers more skill development types of courses. This is open platform where anyone can register and post their courses. Students are free to search any courses and buy.Tips for Selecting MOOC Courses
- Always watch the introductory video.
- Examine the course material and check what level the course is.
- Always research about the instructor and make sure he/she is experienced.
- Search for reviews online.
We believe that MOOC courses are great way to study, especially for international students.
If you are looking for any online courses then please let us know. We’ll try to match you best courses and scholarships.
Wishing you success!
Like MyPortalNg on Facebook!
