{"id":272,"date":"2017-11-22T10:51:05","date_gmt":"2017-11-22T09:51:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lam.unisg.ch\/blog?p=272"},"modified":"2017-12-07T15:40:36","modified_gmt":"2017-12-07T14:40:36","slug":"state-of-the-nation-online-learning-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lam.unisg.ch\/blog\/en\/state-of-the-nation-online-learning-2017","title":{"rendered":"State of the Nation: Online Learning (2017)"},"content":{"rendered":"

A wide field<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

As in most information industries<\/a>, openness marked the initial production and distribution of e-learning and online education\u00a0courses in general.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the industry matured<\/a>, the rise of technical standards as well as the search of reliable, quality\u00a0content,\u00a0led to a clustering\u00a0in offerings.\u00a0Still,\u00a0institutions interested in making use of\u00a0modern learning methods or individuals searching for specific courses\u00a0need to invest time in evaluating the many different offerings.<\/span><\/p>\n

A useful ressource for this evaluation is <\/span>Class Central,<\/span><\/a>\u00a0a webpage specialized in tracking the online learning industry. It maintains a <\/span>list of providers<\/span><\/a>, both commercial as well as institutional, like\u00a0universities and faculties from around the globe. Even though the list numbers more than a hundred different providers, the vast majority of content is centered around a few big players. Class central also provides a yearly MOOC report<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of the more important ones\u00a0are <\/span>Coursera<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Udacity<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>eDx<\/span><\/a>. Working in partnership with\u00a0leading\u00a0universities (e.g. Havard, Stanford, etc.), these providers offer a sizeable\u00a0quantity of content.\u00a0Originally using a freemium or pay-for-diplom models, online course providers have moved to a licence or monthly fee<\/a>. <\/span>A few other names exist, which provide tailored solutions, like <\/span>opensesame<\/span><\/a>. Still paymodels are a matter of intense discussion.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Course Quality and Hidden Gems<\/strong>
\nAlmost all platforms enable users to evaluate and rate courses.\u00a0Usefulness, content and video\/sound quality are the main aspects of these evaluations.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is worth it to read both good as well as critical ratings before starting a course, as reviews\u00a0can be\u00a0quite revealing. <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sometimes courses with 5 stars can still be of mediocre quality compared to more unknown courses\u00a0and user comments help discover those hidden gems.<\/span><\/p>\n

The vast majority of courses follows a classic videos+quiz style. This is true of both institutional (universities, faculties) as well as professional e-learning providers (authoring agencies). Interactive\u00a0modules are costly and their design complex, which leads to these kinds of components being less common. More professional courses add a good amount of downloadable content to their lessons, these include lecture slides, exercises, tables, graphics or do-it-yourself code for mathematics\/finance based courses.<\/span><\/p>\n

Impact<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The discussion over the success or failure of online learning has been going in waves.\u00a0As with many trends, it started being described as a new revolution in education<\/a>, but the increased\u00a0reach didn’t pair up with a similar successful attendancy<\/a>.\u00a0Still online learning, be it in the form of MOOCs, blended learning or other similar methods is becoming an stablished trend in primary and secundary education and setting a strong footprint in higher and executive education (though the term\u00a0digital learning is used quite as catchall concept<\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Picture: Istockphotos<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A wide field\u00a0 As in most information industries, openness marked the initial production and distribution of e-learning and online education\u00a0courses in general. As the industry matured, the rise of technical standards as well as the search of reliable, quality\u00a0content,\u00a0led to a clustering\u00a0in offerings.\u00a0Still,\u00a0institutions interested in making use of\u00a0modern learning methods or individuals searching for specific […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":323,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[24,25,26,30],"tags":[],"acf":{"excerpt":"

Executive education is not exempt from the digital push. What is the state of the online learning industry in 2017?<\/p>\n"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lam.unisg.ch\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lam.unisg.ch\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lam.unisg.ch\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lam.unisg.ch\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lam.unisg.ch\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lam.unisg.ch\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lam.unisg.ch\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lam.unisg.ch\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lam.unisg.ch\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lam.unisg.ch\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}