MOOC Courses During the Pandemic

 

Over 2020 I started or continued courses from Coursera.  "Learning How to Learn " and "Design Thinking" were useful choices for my quest to add new knowledge about the continuing evolution of MOOC courses, especially during a year when new options for learning online in education, healthcare and workforce development became so important. 

Sharing a MOOC that builds consumer skills

I completed a new MOOC,  a "teach-out" to help consumers identify the range of fake news and build skills to understand how news is produced.  In four hours, this MOOC helped me learn how to differentiate between fabrications and main stream news evolving in a digital world.

Times have changed!  How do we understand accuracy when the consumer now creates content.  Is it "click worthy" and credible?

Now, the consumer must evaluate the sources and not be conned.  Don't trust anything and evaluate good work and share it.

So, here is the good work:
https://www.edx.org/course/fake-news-facts-alternative-facts-michiganx-teachout-2x

MOOC Completion Certificate

Recently, I completed a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) by EdX called "Design and Development of Games for Learning".  I expected to browse the structure of the MOOC since I'm interested in understanding how games may motivate learning.  I didn't intend to finish the course and indicated in the pre survey that one hour per week would be my time limit.

Then I got hooked on the course, enjoying taking an MIT course from a real MIT professor.  The outcome for the course was designing my own learning game and sharing it with the other learners.  The other learners seemed to have different goals for the course from understanding learning games to actually designing games for others.  Everyone was helpful in providing feedback.

So, I completed the course, going from one hour per week to 4 hours because I was falling behind and I wanted to keep up.  More importantly, I was motivated to receive a Certificate of Completion from MIT.  The certificate is now hanging proudly on my LinkedIn profile.  I paid $40 for a verified certificate, the course was free.

Of course, the certificate only indicates completion of course activities.  My competency in designing learning games is not in consideration.

The good news about MOOCs is you now have an opportunity to learn for free from high quality courses offered through institutions such as MIT.