How Companies Are Using MOOCs

By: Justin Ferriman • January 6, 2015
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When most people think of massive open online courses (or MOOCs), they tend to think about them in the context of the educational space.

It is easy to see why this is the case seeing how many MOOCs offer university courses exclusively – and it appears that the only people signing-up for these courses are people looking to take some extra courses for fun.

However, the reality is that there are large corporations that are leveraging the power of MOOCs. In fact, some of the biggest corporate names (including Google, SAP, and Yahoo) are having their employees take courses via MOOC platforms.

Large organizations understand the value in having a well educated employee base. Employees are the life-blood of any company, easily the most valuable asset. It only makes sense to invest in them!

In fact, employees today have come to expect these kind of investments. Training and learning opportunities are often sought after when people are making decisions on where they would like to work.

The infographic below, created by ExtensionEngine, presents seven mini-case studies about large companies that use MOOCs to their advantage.

What is interesting to note here is that MOOCs can be used for a variety of online learning opportunities. Just in these examples alone they are being leveraged from employee onboarding, skill enhancement, self-directed training, innovation, and even brand marketing.

When implemented correctly, these initiatives yield great results (as indicated below). That said, the important thing to remember is that just setting up a MOOC does not guarantee a positive return.

Take ample time to plan a phased roll-out of the program, which includes educating stakeholders on the benefits of such an implementation. Part of that process includes proving the concept, which the examples below can certainly help accomplish.

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