Library Guides: Open educational resources (OER): MOOCs and open courses

What is a MOOC?

A massive open online course (MOOC) is an online course freely available to anyone who wants to participate. MOOCs usually:

are free
have very large class sizes
vary in length
vary in workload and time commitment

Many, including UQx, offer verified certificates on completion for a small fee.

MOOC platforms

Leading MOOC providers

UQx
UQx develops the University of Queensland's MOOCs.
edX
Offers high-quality courses from the world’s best universities and institutions, including the University of Queensland.
FutureLearn
Diverse selection of courses from leading universities and institutions.
Open Learning Initiative
The Open Learning Initiative (OLI) is funded by Carnegie Mellon University.
OpenupEd
Self-paced courses and scheduled MOOCs in a range of languages.

These providers have high quality courses but may charge a fee for some courses:

Coursera
Courses are taught by instructors from some of the world’s best universities and educational institutions.
Udacity
Offers nanodegree programs and credentials.

MOOC search engines

Search for MOOCs across platforms:

CourseTalk
Filter by subject, rating and cost.
Class Central
Search by subject. Ratings and reviews are available.

Find open courses

Open courses, sometimes referred to as OpenCourseWare, are online courses created gratis by Universities. Most are freely available to use under Creative Commons Licences.

OEGlobal (formerly OpenEducationConsortium)
Search for open courses via the OpenEducation Consortium
MIT OpenCourseWare
Web-based publication of virtually all MIT course content
Open Michigan
Open Michigan's open educational resources include many open courses
TUDelft OpenCourseWare
Search courses arranged according to Themes and Programs
ROAM - Repository of open and affordable materials
From Penn State University. Freely available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license.