2014年6月23日 網站追蹤供稿

目前，大規模在線開放課程（MOOC’s）發展迅速。鑒于大規模集合課程越來越受歡迎，我們評估了如今在網上最受歡迎的課程。首先，要考慮每一個網站的不同要求。有一些網站提供付費課程，而另外一些網站則提供免費課程。免費課程的合理性在于一些高等院?？梢越璐苏故舅麄儗W校最頂尖的教授和課程，這反過來可以增強世界范圍內對他們課程的需求。有意思的是，最早采用這種網上課程形式的卻是在非洲、印度和亞洲的一些國家和地區，在這些國家里，移動網絡的使用要比臺式電腦的使用范圍廣泛得多，這是因為農村地區的大多數教師買不起臺式機。網上學歷也比以前更加受歡迎，像是在非洲的一些網民使用手機上網的地方，如果提供在線課程的學校想要全面爭奪那些地方的市場份額，那么就得在網上學歷和證書方面做出一些創新性的改進。

提供課程的學校：到目前為止，在視頻培訓領域做出最大貢獻的有麻省理工學院、加州大學伯克利分校、哈佛大學及哈佛附屬學院，當然還包括最新加入的倫敦商業金融學院、倫敦政經學院和可汗學院。這并不意味著在亞洲沒有頂級的高等學府，事實上，香港和孟買也一直在向人們展示其令人驕傲的課程，只不過當前，我們仍在期待可以再這些地區發現更多更好的免費課程。

課程共享：目前，“開放文化”、“我的免費在線課程”和“課程時代”是網絡課程的三大供應網站。在這三個網站中，你能找到的不僅僅是免費課程，更多的是大量其他高等院校提供的免費學習機會。在“課程時代”網站上，學習者可以使用這個平臺嘗試學習新課程，課程完成之后，學習者可以以一直名義上的付費方式申請開具課程學習證明。網站不僅關注學歷項目，而且注重一些短小的課程，譬如，有的課程只有幾個小時，但有的卻可能持續幾個星期。我們可以在網站上找到各種各樣的專業設置，包括工商管理碩士以及商業、科學、市場營銷、金融、工程、醫學、藝術、歷史、政治學和健康保健等學士和博士學位課程，當然，還有更多，這里不一一列舉。

越來越多的國家參與到其中來：美國毫無疑問是最先發動這一行動的領袖，然而，英國、澳大利亞、南非、加拿大和幾乎所有亞洲國家現在都在源源不斷地加入大規模在線開放課程的行動當中。目前，博客系統和其他平臺用于文本型的課程。與此同時，溝通的渠道也不再局限于“Youtobe”, “Twitter”和“Facebook”的使用呈不斷上升趨勢。

在線課程鼓勵老師和學生們全體參與進來，分享各自的經驗，或許你的下一個新想法就會被制成一個短小的課程放在網上。

Free online courses, Universities in USA, Europe and Australia

Published on June 23rd, 2014. Written by SiteTrail.

Recently Massive Open online Courses (MOOC’s) have expanded rapidly and as course aggregators became more popular, we are now evaluating some of the most popular education resources currently on the web. Firstly, the dimensions of each site should be considered: Some offers paid courses, wheras others focus on free courses. The rational behind free courses is that Universities and Colleges have an opportunity to showcase some of their best professors and lecturers, which in turn creates an international demand for their programs. What is interesting is that the regions who are early adopters of the educational content includes Africa, India and Asia – typically countries wher mobile internet usage is higher than Desktop usage, due to the fact that most educational users cannot afford desktop devices in rural areas. online degrees is now more prominent than ever and in places like Africa wher many internet users will access the web primarily via mobile phone, degree and diploma courses will have to provide an innovative solution if that market is going to be engaged effectively.

The content providers: So far the top contributors in the area of video recorded training includes MIT, UC Berkeley, Harvard and Harvard extension, as well as the more recent entrants such as LSBF (London School of Business and finance), LSE (London School of economics) and of course the Khan Academy. This of course does not mean that there are not prime educational establishments to be found in Asia: Indeed, both Hong Kong and Mumbai has been showcasing some impressive work too, only that we are still waiting to see more content from these regions.

The content sharers: Right now, OpenCulture, Myfreecoursesonline and Coursera are the three biggest names in content aggregation. What you will findatany of these sites are actually not paid courses, but rather a variety of free opportunities showcased by other establishments. In the case of coursera, learners use the platform itself to try new courses, and upon completion, for a nominal fee, a certificate of attendance can be issued. The focus is not only on degree programs, but also short courses which range from a few hours, to several weeks. We have been able to identify courses across a wide range of professions, these include: MBA programs, PHD and Bachelors programs for business, science, marketing, finance, engineering, medical, the arts, history, political science, alternative health and much more.

Countries participating are on the rise: The USA was no doubt the first movers, however the UK, Australia, South Africa, Canada and practically all of Asia are now making moves to join the MOOC movement. So far, Youtube seems to be the favorite way of broadcasting video related content – but slideshare, wordpress and other platforms are used for text type content. The channels of communication is expanded beyond Youtube – and Twitter/Facebook engagement is on the rise.

Both teachers and learners are encouraged to get involved in content sharing – your next breakthrough idea can come in the form of a short course.