Massive open online courses (MOOCs) had a banner year
in 2015. According to an EdSurge report,
enrollment doubled to more than 35 million students, with more than 4,200
courses offered by 550 colleges and universities.
There were 2,200 courses offered for the first time in
2015, with computer science and programming courses growing by more than 10%. The
MOOC listing provider Class Central analyzed reviews of the courses and determined that A Life of Happiness and
Fulfilment, offered by Indian School of Business and Coursera, beat
Introduction to Programing with MATLAB, offered by Vanderbilt University and
Coursera, as the top-rated class of the year.
Issuing credentials to students was a top MOOC trend of
2015, with more than 100 credentials available from providers. Credentials have
become the main source of revenue for both Udacity and Coursera, while edX focused
on providing MOOC students with credit by teaming with Arizona State University
on its Global Freshman Academy and working on partnerships with credit-granting
schools.
Many MOOC providers no longer offer free certificates
upon completion of a class and are now targeting high school students trying to
prepare for college. The platforms also offer more than 800 self-paced classes
with soft deadlines that give students plenty of flexibility for completing a
course.
“In 2016, we can expect to see a lot more credentials
and credits,” Dhawal Shah, founder of Class Central, wrote for EdSurge. “But as
MOOC providers try to aggressively monetize, early adopters many find that
critical components of the learning experience will no longer be free.”
