As the number of MOOC learners reached 25 million, from 2012 to April 2015 across all MOOC platforms, much is known about their demographics, interaction with courses and the academic, professional and leisure benefits gained through their participation. Potential learners may consider joining the MOOC trend if they know a little more about fellow MOOC learners and about the courses and platforms. Current learners are already highly educated, mainly based in OECD countries, and motivated by their interest in learning something new. While currently only 12% of learners are over 55 years old, MOOCs offer older people an opportunity for free leisure lifelong learning, which can contribute to healthy ageing strategies, important to both individuals and society in general, particularly relevant in OECD countries given the ageing trend in population demographics. A small percentage of learners, who watch at least one video, complete the course and gain a certificate. Although representing a small percentage, in actual numbers certificate achievers are already a million learners from over 200 countries. In addition to learning something new, learners also derive academic and employment benefits, according to studies of certificate achievers. Learners who participate in MOOCs, however, face challenges in obtaining recognition from higher education institutions, employers or professional bodies for the course credential they receive. Access is another challenge MOOC learners face.

1. Do you love learning? Why not try a MOOC?
Photo credit: Alzughaibi, S. (2010). Study Hard. Retrieved from https://flic.kr/p/8XPD3F

2. 4321 5
Have you ever…?
ANSWER ‘YES’ OR ‘NO’ TO THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS
Wanted to
learn
something
new just for
the love of
learning?
Wanted to
take a
course at an
elite
university
for free?
Wanted to
join an
internation-
al
community
without
having to
travel?
Wanted to
learn new
knowledge
and skills to
boost your
career?
Wanted to learn
about emerging
technologies to
help you to
better interact
with ‘digital
natives’?

3. MOOC
Enthusiast

4. Why take MOOCs?
Curiosity
Job Advancement
Academic Benefits
Photo credit: edX. (2015). Courses.
Retrieved from
https://www.edx.org/course.
References for audio: Najafi, Rolheiser,
Harrison, & Håklev (2015;) Hayes,
(2015); Macleod, Haywood, & Woodgate
(2015); Christensen, Steinmetz, Alcorn,
Bennett, Woods, & Emanuel (2013)

5. MOOCs
Learners
Benefits &
Challenges

6. MOOC - Definition
“A course of study made available over the
Internet without charge to a very large number
of people”
Source: Oxford English Dictionary

7. Typical MOOC
video lectures
quizzes
assignments
reference materials
discussion forums
Photo Credit: Guo, Kim, & Rubin, 2014

8. Coursera edX
Udacity FutureLearn
MOOC
Platforms

9. Hold first or
second
degrees (85%)
Employed
(70%)
Developed
countries (65%)
Age: 18-34 (54%)
Profile of
MOOC
Learners
References: Liyanagunawardena (2015;
Koller & Ng, 2013 cited in Jordan (2014);
Macleod et al. (2015); Christensen et al.
(2013); University of Edinburgh (2013)

10. Results of Coursera Research on Learners
52% 28%
Source: Zhenghao, Alcorn, Christensen, Eriksson, Koller & Emanuel (2015)

11. MOOC
Certificates
Challenges and
Opportunities

12. Expanding access to educationally
disadvantaged populations
Source: Zhenghao et al. (2015)

13. Leisure Lifetime Learning
Photo Credit: Strycula, A. (2010). Senior Citizen taking photographs. Retrieved from https://flic.kr/p/8rPefa

14. Where to
start?
Reference URL
http://www.palgrave.com/re
sources/Product-Page-
Downloads/M/Morris-
Studying-a-MOOC/Studying-
a-MOOC-Neil-Morris-James-
Lambe.pdf

16. References (1)
Christensen, G., Steinmetz, A., Alcorn, B., Bennett, A., Woods, D., & Emanuel, E. J. (2013). The
MOOC Phenomenon : Who Takes Massive Open Online Courses and Why ? University of
Pennsylvania, Nd Web, 6, 1–14. doi:10.2139/ssrn.2350964
Hayes, S. (2015). MOOCs and Quality : A Review of the Recent Literature. Retrieved from
http://www.qaa.ac.uk/en/Publications/Documents/MOOCs-and-Quality-Literature-Review-
15.pdf
Jordan, K. (2014). Initial trends in enrolment and completion of Massive Open Online Courses.
International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 15(1), 133–160. Retrieved from
http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/viewFile/1651/2813
Kizilcec, R. F., Piech, C. and Schneider, E. (2013). Deconstructing disengagement: analyzing learner
subpopulations in massive open online courses. In Proceedings of the Third International
Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge (pp. 170–179). New York, NY, USA: ACM.
doi:10.1145/2460296.2460330

17. References (2)
Liyanagunawardena, T. R., Adams, A. A., & Williams, S. A. (2012). MOOCs: A Systematic Study of
the Published Literature 2008-2012. International Review of Research in Open and Distance
Learning, 14(3), 202–227. Retrieved from
http://apps.webofknowledge.com.proxy.lib.umich.edu/full_record.do?product=WOS&search_m
ode=GeneralSearch&qid=1&SID=4EqKAbfcev4mBpQSNfC&page=1&doc=1
Macleod, B. H., Haywood, J., & Woodgate, A. (2015). Emerging patterns in MOOCs: Learners,
course designs and directions. TechTrends, 59(1), 56–63. Retrieved from
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.library.esc.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&sid=452639d7-
274a-43d4-9d76-6f20356bc6e1%40sessionmgr115&hid=111
Morris, N., & Lambe, J. (2014). Studying a Mooc : a Guide. Retrieved from
http://www.palgrave.com/resources/Product-Page-Downloads/M/Morris-Studying-a-
MOOC/Studying-a-MOOC-Neil-Morris-James-Lambe.pdf

18. References (3)
Najafi, H., Rolheiser, C., Harrison, L., & Håklev, S. (2015). University of Toronto Instructors’
Experiences with Developing MOOCs. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed
Learning, 16(3), 233–255.
University of Edinburgh. (2013). MOOCs @ Edinburgh 2013 – Report # 1.
doi:10.1056/NEJMp1202451
Zhenghao, C., Alcorn, B., Christensen, G., Eriksson, N., Koller, D., & Emanuel, E. J. (2015). Impact
Revealed: Learner Outcomes in Open Online Courses, (September), 1–26. Retrieved from
https://d396qusza40orc.cloudfront.net/learninghubs/LOS_final 9-21.pdf

19. Photo credits
Alzughaibi, S. (2010). Study Hard. Retrieved from https://flic.kr/p/8XPD3F
edX. (2015). Courses. Retrieved from https://www.edx.org/course.
Guo, P., Kim, J., & Rubin, R. (2014). How video production affects student engagement: An
empirical study of mooc videos. Proceedings of the First ACM Conference on Learning @ Scale
Conference. Retrieved from http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2566239
Strycula, A. (2010). Senior Citizen taking photographs. Retrieved from https://flic.kr/p/8rPefa