Over 138,000 enrolled in UAB's online courses
15/07/2014
The massive open online courses or MOOC offered by the UAB through the Coursera platform reached very high success rates in the first year of existence. A total of 138,135 people from around the world signed up for the open courses. Soon a new enrolment period will open for new courses and second editions of some of the courses offered this past year. The UAB's decision to offer MOOC contributes to the international projection of the university and to the wish to reach a larger variety of sectors more easily.
The four courses offered this year were of interest to many students: 26,276 people signed up for the "Pre-Calculus" course; 31,078 people signed up for the course in "Egyptology"; 21,933 people signed up for the course in "Digital systems - sistemas digitales: de las puertas lógicas al procesador"; and the largest number of people, 38,796, signed up for the course in "Corrección y estilo en español" . Of these four, the first and second courses will be offered again next year.
At present, the UAB is offering "The Olympic Games and the Media", with 6,490 people enrolled, and "Representacions culturals de les sexualitats", with 10,728 people enrolled. And soon a new course on "English for Teaching Purposes" will be underway.
The UAB MOOC last from four to six weeks. They are offered fully in Spanish except for the course on the Olympic Games (in English) and the Digital Systems (in Spanish and English). The people enrolled in the courses come from different origins and up to 180 different countries. An especially large volume of people enrolled are from Spain, Mexico, Colombia and the United States.
It must be mentioned that not all those who enrol finish the courses: those who followed the courses partially or to completion were some 79,000. Upon completion, Coursera gives out certificates with a mark of "normal" or "with distinction", depending on the results obtained. There is also the option of paying for an official UAB certificate, under the Coursera "Signature Track", a way to guarantee that that specific person has taken a Coursera course.
The certificates cannot be validated for UAB courses, but the contents of the MOOCs (videos, documents and online exercises) can be used to complement some subject contents. Specifically, the subject "Fundamentals of Computers" from the bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering used some of the contents of a MOOC and helped students obtain better results vs. previous years.
Highly Positive Outcome
The UAB has positively valued its participation in the Coursera platform due to the opportunity it has represented in internationalising the university. On the one hand, it opened new collaboration routes between lecturers from different universities through the Coursera Community and through the annual conferences held by the platform.
On the other hand, it helped reach students from other countries and from other sectors, with many people enrolling from Latin American countries and many retired or elderly people participating, etc. The MOOCs are a good way to expand on "Life-Long-Learning" options and help the whole of society benefit from the academic quality of the UAB, and the same time contribute to the popularisation of science and culture.
The UAB was the first university in Spain to offer these types of courses: it is the only institution to participate in Coursera, the main platform worldwide, and only the University Carlos III of Madrid is adhered to another of the international platforms(EdX), but has not offered any courses as of yet.
More information:
Coursera