INTRODUCTION
Many are wondering whether MOOCs (Massive Open Online
Courses) are still free of charge. This curiosity comes from some of the headlines we have recently seen. Including:
·
Top MOOC provider edX no longer free for all1
·
MOOCs still open but no longer free - The
Australian2
·
Free MOOCs? Forget about it3
·
Is Coursera individual classes no longer free? –
reddit4
·
Are Coursera courses not free any more?5
·
Massive Open Online Courses used to be 100%
free. But they didn’t stay that way6 and
·
The Golden Age of MOOCs is over and Why I hate
Coursera7
WHAT IS
HAPPENING?6
Dhawal Shah, the Founder of www.class-central.com (claiming to
be the most popular online course search engine) explains what is
happening. In 2011 he took one of the first
MOOCs and remembered that back then, everything was 100% free of charge. The videos, the assignments, and the
certificates. However, he pointed out that in 2017, a student cannot find this sort of free learning experience.
He explained that as MOOC providers searched for a favorable
business model, they started putting certain aspects of the MOOC experience
behind a paywall. As a result, MOOCs went from “free” to “free to audit” where
students auditing courses have access to course videos and other materials but not
the assignments and certificates.
Free certificates were the first items to be shifted from
“free of charge” to “charged.” Then the graded
assignments were put behind paywalls.
Now all the major MOOC providers are making courses that are charging student, with even video lectures locked away behind paywalls. However, this does not mean that all their
courses need to be purchased.
ARE MOOCs NO
LONGER FREE?6
Shah explained that the situation with the four biggest
MOOC providers is as follows:
Current Situation at EdX6
·
Still offering graded assignments free of charge;
·
Offers certain courses (which they call
Professional Education) at a cost. These
typically cost hundreds of dollars;
·
Apart from Professional Education, all the edX
courses are completely complimentary, and students only need to purchase the course if they want
to receive a certificate.
Current Situation at Coursera6
·
Certificates and graded assignments are not
free of charge;
·
For students who want to access course videos
at no charge, they need to find and click on a tiny “audit” link (which has been designed intentional to be difficult to locate);
·
Courses that are not part of a series
(specialization) will sometimes have the option to sign up for an audit
mode. In these cases, graded assignments
are of no charge to participate, but students still do not have access to free of charge certificates;
·
Cousera had a liberal financial-aid policy for a
long time. It now takes them at least 15 days to respond to financial aid
applications.
Current Situation at FutureLearn6
· Students have access to course
materials at no charge(articles/ videos/ peer review steps) but this special is only available
for the duration of the course and two weeks after it ends. For unlimited access to the course materials,
students are required to upgrade for a costs of $30 to $90;
·
However, all students (complimentary and upgrades) still have
access to quizzes and assignments;
·
Only the upgrades have access to tests,
and a Certificate of Achievement when students complete their course.
Current Situation at Udacity6
Udacity offers “nanodegrees” which can take months to
finish, and they usually consist of online courses, human-graded projects, and
some mentorship.
·
The courses that are part of Nanodegree could usually
be taken free of charge;
·
However, getting the certificate requires
payment.
ADDRESSING THE
KEY ISSUES
The Key Issues
In my readings in preparation for this posting, I find
two main issues behind the trend to reduce free service offerings: 1) the need
for economic survival, and 2) greed. The
need for economic survival is understandable, since offering of top quality
courses to interested learners from around the world cannot be achieved with no
or little financial backing. This has resulted in marriages of convenience
between the technologists, educationists, and visionaries on one hand with the
global corporate elite on the other. Someeg:7 argue that, of late,
we have been seeing MOOC providers caring less about the students and more
about the money.
The Solution
Firstly, it should be pointed out that, there are still a lot of positives out there. For those interested in learning a subject,
there are still many MOOCs topics that can be studied at no charge. As it maybe true that it is made very difficult to
find Cousera’s tiny “audit” button, and some may not know that “audit” means you are able to take the course at no cost, and it may take two weeks to get a response to a
query regarding the need for financial assistance.
However, there are still some great opportunities out there.
In addition, we should try and:
·
involve more people who care more about students and less about the money,
·
encourage searches for win-win models of service
operations (rather than searching for purely alternative business models), and
·
promote in-person, on-line, and dual-mode mentoring/
tutoring/ coaching.
An Example: The McVay Youth Partnership at Hamline
University, St. Paul, Minnesota8
This example is from Education but not specifically on MOOC. However, it is cited here because it employs
all three elements mentioned above , it involves people who care more about
students and less about the money; it involves a search (which lasted two years) to find
a workable win-win model of operation, and it involves mentoring.
The McVay Youth Partnership at Hamline University offers
paid leadership opportunities for students, who then mentor middle- and high-schoolers.
The program was endowed by Pete and Mary McVay.
In a similar manner, people who care about students could volunteer or be
requested to endow a program where tutors/mentors/coaches provide assistance to
students doing MOOCs. This was especially important to those from underprivileged backgrounds. This approach will also help address what has
been referred to (rightly or wrongly) as the greatest challenge for MOOCs which is the
very low completion rate of only 4-6%.9
It was reported10 in 2013, according to Coursera, more than 900 students have finished 10 or more Coursera MOOCs. Today, some 4-5 years later, there should be quite a number of MOOCs experts out there who have taken five or more MOOCs from Cousera or other platforms. hopefully they are willing to be involved in sharing their MOOCs knowledge and expertise through tutoring.
WHAT NEXT
To find free online courses and MOOCs, please click here
REFERENCES
1: http://www.afr.com/news/policy/education/top-mooc-provider-edx-no-longer-free-for-all-20141005-jlu72
4:https://www.reddit.com/r/coursera/comments/40ek1e/is_coursera_individual_classes_no_longer_free/?st=j699er3q&sh=f99ec602
Posted by: Dr. Nat Tuivavalagi
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