MOOC

Just tonight, I enrolled myself in a course offered by the University of Pennsylvania. I figured that if I intend to stay in the corporate world, I should at least be more familiar with its language: accounting.

The course is titled "An Introduction to Financial Accounting" and is going to be taught by Brian J. Bushee, a professor. Class is to start on September 9, 2013 and the entire semester is going to be ten weeks long with a workload of 6/8 hours a week.

And, yes, I'm not paying any tuition for this.



The course is just one of many offered by Coursera, a site dedicated to offering MOOC or Massive Open Online Courses. MOOCs are simply the next step in distance education and feature video presentations by the instructors, illustrations, and what-not, which are all available across the net. It promises the convenience of home schooling for tertiary-level education.

But the real draw of the concept is the fact that it's free. Students from anywhere in the world can study online through courses which are offered by top-rated universities. It's a very good tool in leveling the playing field, making sure that even those who cannot afford can still get a shot at a proper education.

Unfortunately, the fact that it's free is also one reason why the model is inherently unstable. As of today, the founders of Coursera are trying to find ways to generate revenue from all the traffic that the site has attracted.  Like any other business, the site still has to earn in order to pay the costs of maintaining itself.

I'm crossing my fingers that my class won't get cancelled by then.

On the other hand, I think I have a letter for Fr. Tabora...