5 MOOC Building Platforms

By: Justin Ferriman May 28, 2013
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moocplatformsjpgNow that MOOCs are hitting the scene, everyone wants to jump on board! Granted, some want to get into the game in the hopes of making a quick dollar (somehow?), but others genuinely want to know how they can create their own MOOC for educational purposes. Well, you have options!

More providers are likely to spring up as we will only cover five potential options. As the entire MOOC industry evolves, expect to see more options at your disposal for this kind of thing. Kind of like when Wikipedia hit the scenes, we saw an influx of “Wikipedia-like” sites, templates, and software.

In no particular order, some of your options include:

1. Course Builder by Google: Thanks to some commenters on this post, the course builder by Google was brought to my attention. This platform contains software and instructions for presenting your materials. You can organize the material into lessons, activities, and tests. Additionally, there are instructions for using other Google products (surprise, surprise) to create a community and to evaluate effectiveness. While this all sounds well and good, make sure you have a grasp of HTML and JavaScript if you choose this solution.

2. Open MOOC: I find the name of this one to be rather redundant, considering MOOCs is an acronym that contains the word “open” 🙂 … but jokes aside, it’s a good option for setting up your MOOC offering. The software enables you to add video and have discussions in a built in forum. Content can be access online from a desktop, tablet, or smartphone. They even have a badges system. Some downsides are that it does require some technical skills to get going, and it doesn’t allow for integration of social networks. Also, the quizzes are quite limiting (multiple choice only) and look kind of amateur.

3. Miriada: For all our Spanish speakers, this is the choice for you (the best one that I am aware of anyhow). Perhaps there is another one though that I am missing – feel free to comment if so. One major downside: it’s only for universities in the “Universia network”.

4. Future Learn: This one is wrapped in mystery as it’s not quite available, but thought I would include it on this list in case you were interested in signing up for their mailing list. Biggest downside (other than not being available) is that it is only for leading UK universities.

5. LearnDash: You may be surprised to know that LearnDash can be used quite easily for your MOOC. One benefit compared to the others is the amount of customization you can give in regards to the look and feel of your site given the large variety of WordPress templates available. Another major advantage are dynamic quizzes with any question type you can imagine. In fairness, a natural downside is that there is some learning curve if you have never used WordPress before (but luckily WordPress is very well documented)!

References:

Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

Justin Ferriman

Justin started LearnDash, the WordPress LMS trusted by Fortune 500 companies, major universities, training organizations, and entrepreneurs worldwide. He is currently founder & CEO of GapScout. Justin’s Homepage | GapScout | Twitter