OER (Online Educational Resources) / MOOC (Massive
Open Online Course)
Haven’t
you ever thought of studying at the best university of the world, like Oxford,
Harvard, Cambridge, Princeton, Stanford, Yale and be taught by the best professors or explore and study the course
you have never come up at the university; or get an access to the multiple resources
at a digital library of the largest library in the world, like London’s British
Library or New York Public Library, but then realized that this will never come
true. Don’t get upset, because we live in the 21st century of
digital technologies which definitely has something to offer in this case. One
of such offers may be OER and MOOC. Have you ever heard of OER or MOOC?
What is OER and MOOC? OER is decoded as Open
Educational Resources, whereas MOOC – as massive open online courses. What’s
the difference?
Massive Open Online Courses or MOOC have
specific educational purposes which offer a lot of free online courses created
by the best universities in the world. They are very beneficial and effective
for people who are eager to learn and discover
something new for him/ herself. Besides,
you can get a certificate for completing the course. This certificate is no
different from the diploma you can get from real university which will be taken
into consideration when applying for a job or continuing the education. The
rules and regulations are the same: to be responsible, organized, well-prepared
and ready to plunge into the world of knowledge, pass appropriate tests and
exams. Combining all of these features will bring you to the successful
completion of the course. You see, everything is quite simple. Yeah, I agree
that this type of learning cannot be compared to attending classes in a real
university and in a real life, but this is also a wonderful opportunity that
you shouldn’t miss.
Open Educational Resources or OER refer to any
kind of computer program which is free for the general public to use. They
provide social and interactive learning. Users are free to share, copy, paste,
edit, adapt and interact with the content. Students can access OER online for zero cost,
download, keep a copy, and print as many pages as they wish. Teachers can
collect and use OER to perfectly suit their curriculum, and share their
innovations with other educators. Owing to this program teachers can share
knowledge virtually with their students as easily as in the classroom whereas
learners can easily find information on any topic they are interested in, and
connect with friends across the universe, share files and documents, like book and
other materials. The example of such an OER can be Wikipedia that offers all of
the above-mentioned opportunities.
Nowadays,
OER and MOOC have become significant tools for all people around the world that
allow to teach, to learn and
gain knowledge faster than ever before. Therefore,
the aim of OER and MOOC is first
of all, to create equal opportunities available for everyone to get anything
they want irrespective of their category, rank, class or other things; and
secondly, to enable people to become life-long and autonomous learners.
P.S. I would
like to say that I am not new to OER-s or MOOCs. I decided to enroll to an
archeology course (however, I do not remember the website, because it was
almost 4 years ago) the field that I am very, very interested in. I made use of MOOC on the advice of my sister
who enrolled for medical course in London and got certificate for the
successful completion of the course. I loved to get prepared for classes, do
some tasks, tests, everything like in a real classroom. That’s how I discovered
MOOC for myself.
If I somehow interested you, then start exploring some of
the following websites:
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