Overview of types of MOOCs

MOOCs are known best to be the free online courses that are available for anyone to enroll in at any time. These MOOCs Courses are an affordable and flexible way for you to not only learn new skills but also advance your career and deliver quality educational experiences at scale. And that is why millions of people around the world prefer to use different types of MOOCs to learn. Now, why do people take MOOCs? Well, there are a variety of reasons for this decision. It can be to develop your career, or get authentic advice regarding changing careers, or in college preparations. Similarly, MOOCs can also be taken for other purposes like supplemental learning, lifelong learning, corporate eLearning and training, and many more.

Whatever the MOOCs you take are taught by elite academics in elite universities that draw a lot of interest and also provide a complete distance learning environment. Through assignments, lecture videos, presentations, and other course materials, you get to learn the best possible way and of course from the comfort of your home. With that, all these MOOCs let you study anywhere and at any time. Thus not only you get to learn from the best but at your ease and pace.

Types of MOOCs:

MOOCs are divided into different types like cMOOCs and xMOOCs and both these types of moocs have significant theoretical differences. That is why, MOOCs are to be analyzed and evaluated based on learning theories such as cognitivism, connectivism, behaviorism, and constructivism, etc. So let us give you a brief detail on the two types of MOOCs.

xMOOCs:

xMOOC  stands for eXtended Massive Open Online Courses that are all based on traditional university courses. The advantage of taking an xMOOCs is that they significantly broaden the number of students who can be exposed to university-level courses. It is a more traditionally organized and a post-secondary online course that utilizes more familiar higher education teaching methods. These methods include using pre-recorded lectures, tests, quizzes, and other ways. The xMOOCs are mostly sponsored by universities or commercial entities that also offer certificates or course credits.

Though xMOOCs are intended to offer higher education opportunities to many students, yet they are often criticized for being less difficult and inferior as compared to face-to-face classes where student-teacher interaction is quite open and convenient.

cMOOCs:

The c in cMOOC represents a connectivist that mostly represents the nature of cMOOCs. This term was founded by Stephen Downes who is the co-founder of one of the first MOOCs. The purpose here was to create a distinction from the xMOOCs. How cMOOCs work is that it involves a group of people who learn together and share and discuss learning material with one another instead of being delivered by an individual instructor as in traditional university courses. In cMOOCs, mostly learning content is provided and interaction in promoted through a variety of things. It includes blogs, learning communities, social media platforms, and more.

Therefore, in this type of environment, all the participants are considered both teachers and learners that stand in contrast to the structure of the xMOOCs where among all the individuals, one may either be a teacher or a student.

Conclusion:

Thus these above-mentioned were the two types of MOOCs and as you can see for yourself that both are quite different from one another and each follow different teaching methodology. But in the end, both these types can help you learn and develop a new skill relevant to any field. So first you need to decide what type of field you want in, then enroll in any of the MOOCs and start learning today. And don’t forget to stay home, stay safe, and never stop learning.