THE ROLE OF MASSIVE OPEN ONLINE COURSES IN THE MODERN “EDUCATIONAL LANDSCAPE”

Abstract

The role played by massive open online courses in organizing
a distance learning system is shown. The authors assessed the world’s top resources in the
field of online education according to criteria such as the number of registered trainees,
the number of courses, amount of investments, leading investors and partners. The
arguments are presented why the “Coursera” educational platform, which counts several
dozen global training centers around the world, is the leader in the niche of suppliers of
massive open online courses.
It has been found that the best alternative solutions to prepare schoolchildren and
students are offered by a non profit educational resource – “Salman Khan Academy”.
Indicators for assessing the quality and effectiveness of massive open online courses are
substantiated. The first one concerns the completion of the course, the second one – the
category of people visiting the online platform. It is found that, despite the goal of
influencing the low educated population groups, the online courses students are mostly
people with a basic higher education and a corresponding educational and qualification
level. The latter are standing out pretty significantly financially. The level of openness and
availability of the course are proposed to be considered as one more quality indicator.
Unlike offline, it can be reviewed, commented on and subjectively assessed by countless
numbers of lecturers, students, experts in various fields of knowledge worldwide.
The ways of financial maintenance of majority of the most influential educational
platforms, which provide for development of corporate philanthropy and monetization
of the offered educational products and services, are determined. These ways are: receipt
of funds from certificates granted, entrepreneurs’ fees for holding their own training
courses, receipt of funds from individual training and counseling, income from licensing
a training platform or selling it to employers or other educational institutions, etc. The
prospective strategies for inclusion of the MOOC into the global educational system are
determined.