Ever since COVID a lot of schools have turned to online learning. Educational institutes that brought online learning well beforhand have gained an exponential numbers of users who have been learning throughout their site ever since COVID started. This just leaves everything to question:

1. What does MOOCs stand for?
2. How does online learning work?
3. How many students actually completed the online curriculum?
4. Do students really prefer online learning compared to in-person?

What does MOOCs stand for?

MOOCs stands for: Massive, Open, Online, Course. This is where there are a lot of students that are not confined to one location. The courses are free for everyone. The materials are accessible in eletronic form. The course has a specific structure with certain rules and time limites to make sure each individual follows.

How does online learning work?

Online learning consists of getting education eletronically. Using MOOCs especially, they have chapters with readings and assessments. Before beginning the student must sign up for an account. Once the individual passess through each chapter they are given a visual as to how far they have come. Once completed they are rewarded with a certificate at the end.

Here are some link into how MOOC can be setup and how it works for more detailed information:

How many students actually completed the online curriculum?

From the article Online Education Statistics, it looks like the completion rate for MOOCs certificate programs is only 15% or less. From these statistics it can seem pretty alarming. When MOOCs is claiming that thousands of people sign up. However, not many students seem to actually completing or achieving anything.

Do students really prefer online learning compared to in-person?

From looking at the statistics it does not seem that online learning has a really great advantage. Just looking at MOOCs it looks like it is more of a great reference point for learning breifly or doing research for certain answers. However, not many people seem to take those online programs too seriously. By compairing MOOCs to British Columbia Institute of Technologies part time studies rate, though there are no hard statistics on it. It still seems from the people I interact with in my part time program that they are eager to want to continue and complete the certificate, diploma and/or bachelors.

I have tried to complete a course on Java with MOOCs a few months ago. What I found was that it did not have any type of reminder that I had to come back and complete the course. It was just showing how far I have completed the certificate. Compared to when I take courses at BCIT I have a scheduled class every once a week. This means I develop a routine. This routine helps keep me motivated and a lot of other students too.

By just comparing my personal experiences to others it still seems that in-person learning is the best way to go. In-person learning provides accountability, time management and communication skills. The interaction with others seems to be a key motivating factor in getting students to continue on in the education.

How does this affect me as a teacher?

As a teacher who will be teaching at BCIT soon I do not see this being an issue. A lot of new websites have been poping up and claiming to give out certificates to everyone. However, students still find the traditional way of going to reputable schools the most effective in getting their degree completed. Even if I am teaching at BCIT, they have also adapted to teaching online as well as needed. I even specifically remembered that some students in my program I took a few months ago said that they are more willing to take classes at BCIT again since students now have a lot of options to either have their class in person or online, depending on the degree. This means BCIT has been offering so much flexibility to students that the teachers will not need to worry about their careers.