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Although they are typically not part of the policies of companies within HRD (Human Resource Development) yet, global enterprises and SMEs have started offering MOOCs. By the end of 2015, approximately 4,200 courses were offered by 500+ universities to 35 million students. This has increased by 2016 to 6850 courses by over 700 universities to 58 million students (Class Central, 2016). Hence, 23 million new participants were registered in 2016 alone. In 2017, the numbers increased further to 81 million students, 800+ universities and about 9,400 courses (Class Central, 2017).
As with regular training offers, the quality of MOOCs strongly depends on the provider and the applied quality assurance. MOOCs started as a non-formal educational provision – and consequently are placed outside the quality control of formal courses offered by higher education systems. Some MOOCs are developed by professors individually (or in small teams), other MOOCs are co-created with companies and some universities even have whole departments support/developing MOOCs including quality control mechanisms.
Corporate Benefits of MOOC
The following is a list of the perceived corporate benefits of utilising MOOCs highlighted by interviewees within the BizMOOC project (Driha, Friedl & Jansen, 2016):
- Boost employee productivity and profits
- Improves employee retention rates
- Addresses real world challenges to improve on-the-job performance
- Organisations can identify motivated employees who possess desirable skill sets
- Increase the confidence of employees
- Ensure that employees are up-to-date with skills and professional knowledge
- Free training
- Possibility of enlarging employee and employer´s networks
- A variety of levels of training can be integrated into employee development plans
- Introductory training MOOCs can cover the basics or part of the introduction/new employee processes
- MOOCs provide flexibility in time (both pace of study and when to start) and in knowledge to acquire (not obligatory to follow all lessons of the course)
- Increased use of MOOC in the workplace require policies to support their promotion and implementation
- Support team spirit and cooperation
- Promote intercultural competences.
Before selecting a MOOC for your company, you may wish to assess and review the quality of the MOOC on offer, in order to assure that the MOOC has a high quality, and that it meets your learning needs. There are a number of ways helping you to identify and assess the quality of a MOOC:
- Look for a clear description of the course – including the breakdown of the modules available, its intended learning goals and outcomes
- Examine the materials available on the course – ensure the video is of high quality, and that there are e-books and other high quality materials available for download
- Who is the provider of the MOOC? Was it produced by a reputable university or another provider?
- Is the MOOC hosted by one of the recognised platforms? It doesn’t have