I’ve just completed a MOOC with one of the world’s top universities!

A MOOC short for Massive Open Online Course, offers anyone with access to the internet the chance to study at a top university for free, anywhere in the world. This is online distance learning at its best!

The courses are flexible, normally 3-5 hours of study per week and are often designed to fit around your life, with short activities and clear goals to encourage you to make progress at a comfortable rate that suits you.

The courses are usually fairly short 5-10 weeks in duration and use a variety of media and materials such as videos, audio-presentations, and PDFs.  The courses are also designed to provoke questions and stimulate debate, and there is loads of opportunity to post questions on the discussion boards, or just chat to fellow students via the on-line forum.

It’s also okay if you don’t manage to finish the course, or even pass every assignment, as often you will still get a certificate of participation.

I gained a diploma in Spanish for free

In July of this year (2014) I visited the wonderful vibrant university city of Salamanca in northwest Spain. I’m learning Spanish at the moment and so was really interested in visiting Salamanca’s very old and prestigious university (founded in 1134) which has been offering Spanish language course for foreigners since 1929 and is the go to place for learning Spanish.

While I was finding out more about the university’s intriguing history on their website, I came across a list of the MOOCs that they offered. I could choose a course from a diverse range of subjects such as physical sciences, social, life and health sciences, history, psychology, economics, linguistics, pedagogy, mathematics and law. They all looked appealing but since I was learning Spanish  I thought that I’d have a go at doing their 6 week Spanish course entitled ‘Español Salamanca A2’.

The course was very enjoyable and perfect for my needs being orientated towards communication and social interaction in everyday situations.

The course provided audio-visual materials, PowerPoint presentations , PDFs, forums, wikis etc.

There were 6 modules to the course (one per week) and each module began with an episode from the miniseries which followed an American student of Spanish, Wei, who was living with a Spanish family while studying in Salamanca. After watching the video, which contained all the vocabulary and grammar points for the module, there were audio-presentations, and optional tests to check comprehension.

We also had to submit a piece of work electronically which was reviewed by fellow students (two different students for each piece of work submitted per module) and I in turn did the same. I really liked this learning method, known as peer2peer, and found that by reading and reviewing other student’s work I actually learnt a great deal of Spanish.

Finally at the end of each module we had a compulsory test to complete which was submitted electronically and for which we had to gain at least 70%. However, the tests were all multiple choice and we were given two attempts at completing them so it wasn’t too bad at all.

At the end of the course, if you had managed to complete at least 75% of the course, you gained a certificate of participation and if you completed 100% of the course you could obtain a diploma from the University of Salamanca which cost €40.

MOOC Diploma from the university of Salamanca

With FutureLearn you can learn online for free and choose from a range of topics such as Science & Technology to Arts & Humanities, from Body & Mind to Business & Management.

The response to MOOCs has been incredible with millions of people registering worldwide.

MOOC Pros and Cons

Pros:

• No fees;
• No entry requirements – all courses can be taken by anyone from anywhere online;
• You can choose any course that interests you;
• The courses are often short and flexible and only require a few hours of study each week;
• The courses usually run two or three times each year;
• The courses are led by world-class academics;
• The courses are self-directed and you can get help from a large community of fellow learners via on-line forums;
• Although the majority of MOOCs do not have formal university credits assigned to them, certificates of participation or statements, digital badges, e-portfolios, certificates or diplomas of accomplishment are often available to any learner who completes a course;
• The courses are comparable to a standard university course enabling you to get an idea of the level of study, and get a flavour of what different universities have to offer in terms of subjects and teaching.

Cons

• Online distance learning means no face to face interaction with other students;
• There is less or no one-on-one contact with tutors;