Do corporate MOOCs have a future?

• 2 min read

We’ve just released a whitepaper on massive open online courses (MOOCs) in which we explore their popularity in the corporate learning world and future viability in the academic world.

This whitepaper follows a recent webinar we hosted with four online learning specialists:

  • John Leh, CEO and Lead Analyst at Talented Learning
  • Dr Mike Orey, an Associate Professor at the University of Georgia
  • Aaron Silvers – a designer, technologist and strategist responsible for helping to bring massively adopted learning technologies into organizations around the world, notably SCORM and xAPI (otherwise known as Tin Can).
  • Erica LeBlanc, the Operations Development Manager for the IP and Science division of Thomson Reuters
The whitepaper considers ten MOOC-related questions:

  1. What’s a MOOC?
  2. What’s the future for MOOCs?
  3. From a corporate perspective, what types of MOOCs are there, how are they being implemented and why would a corporation want a MOOC?
  4. Are MOOCs really a disruptive force in learning?
  5. What’s the primary benefit to businesses offering MOOCs?
  6. Will MOOCs up-end the fundamental structure of teaching – especially in a corporate setting?
  7. What will be the effect of MOOCs in developing countries and immature learning markets?
  8. How do you see corporate acceptance of MOOC-based education?
  9. How can you close the gap between MOOCs’ high enrolment and low completion rates?
  10. Are MOOCs actually disrupting anything?
In the whitepaper we argue that, while the idea of millions of people collaborating on a single subject in a shared learning environment is exciting, in reality MOOCs are unlikely to attain their original promise. MOOCs are still struggling to find a market niche within the corporate world – since it’s difficult for any but the largest corporations to generate a following around a subject that they’re willing to make freely available to everyone.

On the other hand, MOOCs seem to abound in the academic world – but those offering the MOOCs are now wondering how to make money from the intellectual property that comprises these courses.MOOCs provide greater access to learning and a wider range of knowledge from different cultures and countries but technology isn’t beneficial merely because it’s there. Nonetheless, MOOCs have already shown their potential to disrupt the academic and corporate learning worlds — in terms of price, technology and even pedagogy – even if research shows that MOOC participants tend to come from the already well-educated and privileged in society.