2014年6月23日 网站追踪供稿

目前，大规模在线开放课程（MOOC’s）发展迅速。鉴于大规模集合课程越来越受欢迎，我们评估了如今在网上最受欢迎的课程。首先，要考虑每一个网站的不同要求。有一些网站提供付费课程，而另外一些网站则提供免费课程。免费课程的合理性在于一些高等院校可以借此展示他们学校最顶尖的教授和课程，这反过来可以增强世界范围内对他们课程的需求。有意思的是，最早采用这种网上课程形式的却是在非洲、印度和亚洲的一些国家和地区，在这些国家里，移动网络的使用要比台式电脑的使用范围广泛得多，这是因为农村地区的大多数教师买不起台式机。网上学历也比以前更加受欢迎，像是在非洲的一些网民使用手机上网的地方，如果提供在线课程的学校想要全面争夺那些地方的市场份额，那么就得在网上学历和证书方面做出一些创新性的改进。

提供课程的学校：到目前为止，在视频培训领域做出最大贡献的有麻省理工学院、加州大学伯克利分校、哈佛大学及哈佛附属学院，当然还包括最新加入的伦敦商业金融学院、伦敦政经学院和可汗学院。这并不意味着在亚洲没有顶级的高等学府，事实上，香港和孟买也一直在向人们展示其令人骄傲的课程，只不过当前，我们仍在期待可以再这些地区发现更多更好的免费课程。

课程共享：目前，“开放文化”、“我的免费在线课程”和“课程时代”是网络课程的三大供应网站。在这三个网站中，你能找到的不仅仅是免费课程，更多的是大量其他高等院校提供的免费学习机会。在“课程时代”网站上，学习者可以使用这个平台尝试学习新课程，课程完成之后，学习者可以以一直名义上的付费方式申请开具课程学习证明。网站不仅关注学历项目，而且注重一些短小的课程，譬如，有的课程只有几个小时，但有的却可能持续几个星期。我们可以在网站上找到各种各样的专业设置，包括工商管理硕士以及商业、科学、市场营销、金融、工程、医学、艺术、历史、政治学和健康保健等学士和博士学位课程，当然，还有更多，这里不一一列举。

越来越多的国家参与到其中来：美国毫无疑问是最先发动这一行动的领袖，然而，英国、澳大利亚、南非、加拿大和几乎所有亚洲国家现在都在源源不断地加入大规模在线开放课程的行动当中。目前，博客系统和其他平台用于文本型的课程。与此同时，沟通的渠道也不再局限于“Youtobe”, “Twitter”和“Facebook”的使用呈不断上升趋势。

在线课程鼓励老师和学生们全体参与进来，分享各自的经验，或许你的下一个新想法就会被制成一个短小的课程放在网上。

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.