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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 125
EMBRACE LIFE
Free online university courses from world-renowned institutions
mean that anyone can now learn just about anything, anywhere
Article by Rebecca Field Jager
Easy, A?
PORING OVER THE LIST of hundreds
of courses available on coursera.org is,
for me, akin to visiting a grocery store
on an empty stomach. My mind rum-
bles. I want to devour everything. The
fact that these online courses are free
Songwriting from the Berkelee Col-
lege of Music, Climate Change from
The University of Melbourne, Early
Renaissance Architecture in Italy from
Sapienza University of Romemakes
me feel as though Ive won a lifetime
learning spree.
Which, in a way, I have.
Until now, I have managed to learn
new things and continue my education
by attending workshops and classes:
some for fun, others to advance my
career as a freelance writer. Last Janu-
ary, I actually went back to university
25 years after getting my performing
arts degreeto slowly chip away at a
communications and information tech-
nology degree. Between tuition and
books, plus things like parking fees,
I know only too well how expensive
a love of learning can traditionally be.
While massive open online courses,
or MOOCs as they are commonly
called, dont replace higher education,
they are a fee-free alternative. They
dont change how we learn (online
courses have been around for the past
two decades, after all), but now that
money is no longer a barrier, they do
change who gets to learn.
Heres how they work
Companies such as Coursera partner
with universities (Ivy League schools
among them) to offer free courses on
topics spanning a range of disciplines
including the arts, humanities, com-
puter science, medicine, mathematics,
music, law and more. Most are touted
as being of the same high calibre as the
ones offered on campus, and are taught
by leading professors via videotaped
lectures. Although the majority of
MOOCs are not accreditedat least,
not yetmany offer a certificate of
accomplishment upon completion.
Last winter, I took a six-week business
course offered by the University of Mary-
land and spent about five hours per week
curled up with my laptop on the couch,
sipping tea as I watched video-lectures
and completed the various quizzes and
assignments.When my marks came in,
I was pleased to see that I had achieved a
B+, not to mention self-conferred bonus
points for my self-esteem.
On the other side of the world, Rad-
hika Ghosal, a 16-year-old 11th grader
who lives in New Delhi, had a similar
experience. Interested in engineering,
she completed a circuits and electronics
course offered by edX (edx.org),
another MOOC provider, to get a feel
for what this area of study would be like.
I spent around 18 to 20 hours a
week sitting with my laptop on the
sofa, she told me in an email. It was
a very enriching experience.
The rise of the MOOC has been a
fast one. Dave Cormier, project lead for
student relations at the University of
Prince Edward Island, first coined the
term in 2008 during an online discus-
sion with another Canadian academic
to describe an online course on educa-
tional theory offered by the University
of Manitoba. Initially, there were 25
paying students taking the course, but
when it was opened up to the general
public free of charge, that number grew
to 2,300. Not only was this the first-ever
MOOC in the world, it unleashed a sort
of MOOC frenzy in academic circles.
But the trend really took off just a year
and a half ago. In the spring of 2012,
two Stanford University professors
launched Coursera with the goal of
giving everyone access to world-class
education that had so far been available
only to a select few. By this fall, its
numbers were staggering: Almost five
million students from 221 countries
were accessing more than 400 courses
offered by more than 80 universities.
In 2012, which The New York Times
dubbed the year of the MOOC, edX, a
MOOC service provider founded by Har-
vard and MIT, and with which the Uni-
versity of Toronto is partnered, entered
the fray. It also boasts impressive num-
bers: Halfway through 2013, more than
one million students representing every
country in the world were enrolled in one
or more of its 67 courses.
Today, the most popular MOOCs
offered by any provider can have well
over 100,000 participants. Students can
share their experiences on discussion
forums and in person at MOOC meet-
ups held at cafs and bistros all around
the globe. CourseTalk (coursetalk.org)
is a website that posts reviews of courses
from students.
Moving forward, Coursera wants to
expand its reach into every country by
focusing on those with digital capabili-
ties, a portion of the global population
that is growing. Right now, it is working
on a mobile initiative.

Whats their value?
Clare Brett, an associate professor in
curriculum, teaching and learning at
the University of Toronto, has been
Two professors from Stanford
University launched Coursera with
the goal of giving everyone access
to world-class education.
126 Best Health www. besthealthmag.ca
researching distance learning for 25
years and developing online classes for
17. She appreciates the excitement
MOOCs are generating but worries
about their educational value. Many
institutions offer a certificate or state-
ment of accomplishment upon success-
ful course completion, but how much
is this recognition worth?
How do you assess the learning
experience? she asks. What is it worth
on a resum? MOOCs are not a solu-
tion if they hold no value.
Brett is not alone in her concerns.
The deluge of similar criticisms has sent
providers scrambling to get courses
accredited. Currently, Coursera has five
courses that have been recommended
for accreditation by the American
Council on Education, and it is working
on adding more. But it is up to each
university to decide if it will offer
credit for MOOC courses. (The Uni-
versity of Alberta currently offers one
MOOC on dinosaur paleobiology that
students can take to earn a credit.)
And any discussion of accreditation
brings the issue of cost into play. How
can a university give away a course to
online participants but charge those in
attendance? (Georgia Tech is offering the
first accredited MOOC degree, a Master
of Science in computer science. Though
it wont be free, the program will be less
expensive than its on-campus counter-
part: about $6,600 over six terms.) Yet
another issue? A mere 10 percent of
courses started are actually completed.
Dave Cormier, of coining-the-term-
MOOC fame, is not overly concerned
about the value of the certificate of
accomplishment or the high attrition
rates. You have to de-institutionalize
your thinking, he says. MOOCs are
about learning, not proving youve
learned. And dropout rates are high
because the beauty of MOOCs is that
you can sign up for a course just to see
what its like, and you can sample sev-
eral if you wish. Thats whats so great.
Who can benefit most?
Leslie Ann Molnar, a Toronto-based
clinical social worker and psychothera-
pist, believes the life-enhancing benefits
of learning may override MOOCs
potential pitfalls. There is an increase
in self-esteem doing any knowledge-
based learning, she says. MOOCs may
provide a less stressful way of learning
than actually physically attending a
class, which may be especially valuable
for women, who, in many cases, are
already very busy caring for the home
and kids, and perhaps working outside
the home as well. She adds that MOOCs
may be a way for those who might not
feel comfortable going to a classroom
e.g., people with general anxiety or who
experience anxiety in social situationsto
enhance the quality of their lives. As well,
MOOCs can provide a way for people
frustrated with their careers to check
out other interests and possibilities.
Daphne Koller, co-founder of Cours-
era, who obtained her masters degree
at the age of 18, says there are many
cases of women using Coursera to
expand their career options. She cites
the case of Dawn Ellen Smith, an Illi-
nois woman who worked in public rela-
tions but found great fulfillment in her
volunteer work at a cancer-related non-
profit. Seeking to parlay her skills into
the healthcare field, she took an intro-
ductory course in pharmacology to
gauge whether she could even wrap her
head around the material presented.
Shortly before successfully completing
the course, she interviewed for a com-
munications position at a hospital and
spoke at length about the course as well
as her plans to expand her knowledge
base through taking other courses. She
got the job.
As for me, having digested the career-
based business course, I recently threw
The History of Rock into my virtual
cart just for fun. Im not a big music
fan; in fact, just the oppositesome-
times I feel Im the only person born in
the 60s who can barely identify various
music genres, much less name the lead
singer of such-and-such band. Only two
weeks in, and already Im champing at
the bit for someone to bring up any-
thing related to rock n roll.
The mid-50s were amazing, Ill say
nonchalantly. Thats when the likes of
Chuck Berry and Fats Domino crossed
over from R & B. But you know, by the
end of that decade, the genre was in
trouble. Elvis had joined the army, wed
lost Buddy Holly in a plane crash, Little
Richard had quit music to preach,
Chuck Berry was arrested, and Jerry
Lee Lewis was in the throes of a scandal
after marrying his very young cousin.
Once I have digested the rock stuff,
Im planning to take Moralities of
Everyday Life offered by Yale Univer-
sity. The course description says we will
explore topics such as how humans are
capable of kindness and cruelty, and
where our sense of right and wrong
comes from. Imagine my future debates
and pontifications!
To me, thats the best thing about
MOOCs: They enable you to engage in
so many more conversations.
G
EMBRACE LIFE
MOOCs can also provide a way
for people who are frustrated with
their careers to check out other
interests and possibilities.