What are the Top MOOCs Platforms?

What is a MOOC?

MOOC stands for Massive Open Online Course. In simple terms, this is an online course that people can enroll for without going to a college. There might be different reasons that stop a person from getting college education in the field that he or she likes. Some of the reasons would be the financial requirement and also the need to be physically present at the college. To such people who would love to complete a course in a particular field or who wants to study a new skill in order to advance in his or her career, MOOC is the ideal option. The only requirement for completing a MOOC is a fast internet connection and some time to spare.

Top MOOCs platforms:

There are numerous platforms that offer various kinds of MOOC courses . Some of the most popular ones are Coursera, edX, Udacity etc.

In fact, Coursera is the largest platform as far as the number of courses offered is concerned. It offers about 2150 courses that are divided into 10 academic categories and there are also 4 search filters. Hence, finding the desired course would not be much of a difficulty. Coursera is also known for providing a number of degree options to the students and since there are quite a few partner institutions, all these degrees are valid. The only problem is that Coursera is known to be quite inconsistent with the pricing of the courses.

edX offers about 1500 courses and these are arranged in 16 different academic categories. There are 6 search filters as well. Unlike other platforms, EdX is not a platform that offers courses on technology alone. If you are a person who wishes to take a course in history or economics, then edX would be the ideal choice. But one problem associated with edX is that the platform doesn’t offer any sort of degree that is accredited by a reputed university. The only accredited program is the MicroMasters Program and these courses would require you to go to the university in order to complete the admission process. One good thing is that the technology is open source and hence all the partner institutions would be able to update the study structure and add features to the courses if they benefit the audience.

Udacity can be put in the third place when it comes to MOOC platforms. But the truth is that Udacity doesn’t offer courses on a scale similar to Coursera and edX. The only university that it is partner with that belongs to the top 100 ranked universities in the world is Georgia Tech. But the advantage is that Udacity is partners with Google, Amazon and IBM Watson. So, it is a fact that Udacity is suited to those who wish to pursue a career in the field of technology. Udacity offers a far less complicated pricing when compared to Coursera and EdX. There are numerous nanodegrees and each one can help you advance in the particular career. Since Udacity is a Silicon Valley product, all the courses offered on the platform are based on technology.

There are other MOOC providers/platforms available like FutureLearn, Canvas Network, NPTEL, iversity, Federica and more that we will discuss later in at our MOOC aggregator i.e. takethiscourse dot net. These MOOC courses are really helpful for students as well as professionals to groom and enhance their skills and excel their careers.