Take the corporate MOOC - cedma-europe.org articles/misc/Take the Corporate... · There’s been quite a lot of talk lately about MOOCs... ... disjointed courses and e-learning modules,

Take the corporate

MOOCPLUNGE!

WHITE PAPER2 0 1 4

PAGE 1 © Féfaur - Take the corporate MOOC plunge!

CONTENTS

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11

6

15

3

13

9

18

Foreword

Assessment and certification

Training in the storm

Case study: Vodeclic

Massive, open, and online

Your first...COOC

Social is key

About

PAGE 2© Féfaur - Take the corporate MOOC plunge!

Foreword

There’s been quite a lot of talk lately about MOOCs... Is it just a fad? In the burgeoning world of Digital Learning, there are countless examples.

We believe, however, that MOOCs are a real game-changer. That is what this White Paper attempts to demonstrate, and is loosely based on discussions between Féfaur and Vodeclic, a leader in desktop computer skills training through e-learning 2.0, which is similar in many ways to a corporate MOOC.

It’s already happening: companies are showing interest, trial runs have begun, and many North American businesses, who can maneuver more freely and are less biased when it comes to training, have adopted it company-wide.

There’s certainly a strong case to be made for a corporate MOOC. To begin with, it fulfills a real need for an entire category of workers and occupations that have been poorly served by traditional training or e-learning methods, it is perfectly suited for new collaborative learning techniques, it takes web design into account...the list goes on. MOOCs are filled with surprises: they go beyond the preconceived notions of education and reinvent learning, offering more possibilities than risks for an industry that has every incentive to take note.

Our goal here is clear: to help inspire you to launch your first corporate MOOC, and why not start with desktop computer skills! One thing is frustrating, however: the field is so vast, we’ve barely scratched the surface!

We hope you enjoy.

Michel DiazAssociate Director, Féfaur


TRAININGIN THE STORM

The cornerstones of training are faltering.

Training is expected to create value for businesses and for people. Surveys show that workers want to feel more confident and be more "efficient" in their day-to-day work. As businesses impose greater performance and productivity demands, this is one objective that cannot be ignored. Giving people the tools to be fully capable in their jobs and be able to solve everyday problems is what matters most. In a nutshell: training should help adequately align skill sets to the corporate world. And it needs to be effective, proven, and mindful of the funds training managers have set aside.

Learning managers must therefore implement training strategies and programs that are able to meet this challenge. And these solutions need to see quick returns in order to keep up with the pace of business: bring new hires quickly up to speed, train workers as soon as a new process or software application is rolled out, update sales teams right before a new product is launched, etc. Not so easy when you’re used to a long-term training plan.

It also needs to accommodate the "new learner", who has become a sophisticated consumer as a result of their constant web surfing. The quality of training provided by the company will be stacked up against what can be found on the Web. Faced with this fierce competition, the training industry (on both the supply and demand sides) must reinvent itself in this huge wave of change in which intermediaries who don’t provide any added value are disappearing. The future of traditional trainers depends on their ability to identify and develop talent, which is a value-add that cannot be replaced.

That’s little comfort when the education sector is also enduring the same challenges, faced with the need to provide better training to more people under significant financial constraints. MOOCs are flourishing on this fertile ground. Still confined to the education sector until just recently, they are now about to enter businesses in France.

training should help adequately align skill sets to the corporate world


OTHER 7%

TRAINING MANAGERS WHO UNDERSTAND THE CHALLENGES

E-LEARNING IS FACING TOUGH TIMES…

• Training challenges •

• Employee and job development •

The Training Department: A strategic business partner

(Féfaur Study, November 2013)(available in French only)

OTHER 7%

• Training challenges •

ALIGNING SKILLS

SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE

ENSURING COMPLIANCE AND CERTIFICATION

SHARING CORPORATE VALUES

GPEC (STRATEGIC wORkFORCE PLANNING)

RETAINING TALENT

TRAINING CUSTOMERS (EXTENDED ENTERPRISE)

80%

71%

61%

46%

45%

29%

7% Talent and learning management systemsTalent and learning management systems(Féfaur Study, November 2012)(Féfaur Study, November 2012)

(available in French only)(available in French only)

• Employee and job development •

The Training Department: A strategic business partner

(Féfaur Study, November 2013)(available in French only)

NOT COMPATIBLE

DON’T kNOw

COMPATIBLE

FULLY COMPATIBLE

E-learning modules? Generally-speaking, they are too long, linear, based on poorly-written scripts (a common weakness of over-scripting), and peppered with a childlike mascot’s babbling. Its graphical and instructional design is usually outdated, and interactivity is artificial. This is a widely-shared opinion among learners, and even the producers themselves. As a result, Rapid Learning has emerged as an alternative, with several advantages: companies can shed themselves of service providers, and considerably reduce costs and lead times. Yet learners don’t necessarily gain anything from the tradeoff. Even though a PowerPoint can be lively and play a video of the instructor, it doesn’t guarantee their full involvement.

This format has changed very little over the past decade, or has sometimes failed to meet expectations. That’s been the case, for example, for some Serious Games. A sort of "pushing the limits of" scripted e-learning, but with high costs and long delivery times (what training need nowadays can afford to wait 12 to 18 months for an effective solution?).

With the addition of linear and sometimes disjointed courses and e-learning modules, "traditional" Blended Learning doesn’t solve

anything, and is especially inadequate. To start with, the Blended Learning business model is a work in progress: the cost of in-person classes eats up the savings that could be generated by e-learning, if the online libraries were beefed up enough to increase the distance learning’s portion. Then there’s the fact that employees end up getting frustrated because the pace and methods for learning don’t match, which is what they really need.

But Blended Learning is evolving! We know that taking it to the next level involves strengthening the link between learning and performance support by more closely integrating informal, social, and "structured" learning.

MOOCs are one of the most promising developments. They are "blended" since they combine various forms of training, most of the time 100% online. There are no in-person classes, except, for example, when a MOOC is part of a flipped classroom. In that case, students/learners are taught theory in a MOOC and then practice their skills in class or in hands-on workshops among a small group of students (called SPOC – Small Private Open Course – a version of MOOC).

TRAINING IN THE STORM

A

B


Training providers have always dreamed of capturing the individual consumer market because of its greater potential, in comparison to the corporate market. Until now, they were unsure how to "access" individual consumers in a cost-effective way. The Web has changed everything, making what was impossible yesterday, possible today.

Consumers are ready to follow, as evidenced by MOOCs, which that are primarily free, for the most part. But a large portion of the consumer market is willing to pay for certification. In less than 10 years, internet users have gone from passively looking up information on the Web, to becoming assertive and strengthening their identities and online memberships through outspoken participation.

For the consumer who is at work today, the dividing line between work and personal life is becoming blurred from the constant barrage of cell phones and internet distractions. The individual consumer and employee are merging together in the form of the Internet/mobile user! Such is the intertwining of home and office that is conveyed by employees who want to use their own personal tablet or smartphone for work as well as pleasure. (BYOD: Bring Your Own Device).

This "consumerization of IT" will extend into training: talent (those who are able to navigate around the new world with ease) say they are prepared to resign if companies continue to impose their old, outdated machines...or, tomorrow, their antiquated training plan.

MOOCs are a precursor to this major trend towards "consumerization of training". Businesses can seize this opportunity, as evidenced by "dual" training catalogs – one for work and one for leisure – that training managers are utilizing and enrolling their employees in.

Vodeclic’s "Switch Time" functionality is a good example: employees can learn how to use non-work-related software programs over the weekend (for free, since it’s their company who pays for the general office subscription), promoting a practice that helps improve their computer productivity at work. A win-win! It’s a company’s practical contribution to "lifelong learning" and to the employability of workers: social partners are in favor, and the company can promote its "employer brand" by reporting, for example, the "Switch Time" on pay slips!

THE NEW TRAINING CONSUMERC

TRAINING IN THE STORM


MASSIVE, OPEN, AND ONLINE

According to Wikipedia, MOOC, a Massive Open Online Course, is: "an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the web. In addition to traditional course materials such as videos, readings, and problem sets, MOOCs provide interactive user forums that help build a community for students, professors, and teaching assistants."

MOOCs are therefore "massive"...an average of 20,000 participants, according to Open University (UK), but some MOOCs have 200,000 or more students enrolled.

Just as massive (though not always reported) is the number of fields that MOOCs aim to cover. At the current pace, it’s only a matter of time before they can meet most of the training needs businesses have company-wide – leadership, management, law, IT, sales techniques, marketing, administration, finance, etc. To prove this point, one only needs to look at the courses available on Coursera, one of the leading providers of MOOC distribution platforms (along with edX and Udacity). Hundreds of courses from some of the French largest universities (among the first were offered from HEC, Polytechnique, and Centrale Paris) are available to over 5 million users. And remember how fast Wikipedia got rid of the time-honored encyclopedias, which were thought of being etched in stone?

They are "open" and "online". You can enroll, often without any prerequisites, which does lead to a high dropout rate. Some people are shocked by the fact that learners can sign up for free training courses but then drop out. Big deal! Other enrollees don’t necessarily sign up to earn a certificate issued by Harvard or MIT, although it seems like it’s becoming more common and looks good on a résumé. People also register to just audit the course, especially if they are only interested in part of the curriculum. On the other hand, the number of participants who end up earning a certificate must be expressed in relation to the number of students enrolled. If the percentage is low – between 5 and 10% (up to almost 40% for the most well-attended courses), the basis for calculation is such that those who are certified can be an impressive bunch! For example, the rare 0.8% of students who completed the MOOC "History of the World since 1300" (Princeton) is still about 700 people.

MOOC platforms provide all the necessary content and services for learner autonomy: they are free, user friendly, and easily accessible through the Web. MOOCs deserve to be labeled "open". This modern form of ubiquitous learning is, needless to say, a spinoff of the widely-used "cloud computing" in companies with SaaS-based LMS platforms and talent management systems.

MOOCs are therefore "massive"...an average of 20,000 participants (…), but some MOOCs have 200,000 or more students enrolled.


"xMOOCs" are designed to validate the skills acquired by issuing a certificate of completion, whereas "cMOOCs" (inspired by the work of George Siemens on connectivism) have open learning objectives with content largely created by the participants (according to the principle "everyone is a student, everyone is a teacher!").

MOOC: training course, class, or tutorials... The distinction between xMOOC and cMOOC echoes the fundamental question of how much freedom is given to the student through their own learning process. The answer depends on the objective: certification or not. It’s a particularly relevant issue in companies today: some training is forced ("pushed") when employees must be certified, for example, for the purposes of regulatory or environmental compliance; other training programs may be pursued voluntarily by workers who only take the modules they need ("pulled").

These two approaches should not be viewed as conflicting. They can harmoniously coexist, in business and in education. When taking a MOOC, the adult learner must be able to choose which courses to attend, proceed at his or her own pace, while still adhering to the overall schedule (MOOC start and end dates) and assessment rules if they want to receive badges or certification. Companies can learn some valuable lessons from the way MOOCs manage to maintain this balance, and from the "pull" segment that needs to grow larger in all modern instructional models. They have a lot to gain, while their structured programs unjustifiably rely on the transmission of information approach.

It is therefore up to training managers to define a general framework capable of unifying what’s non-negotiable (the breadth and pace of knowledge acquisition imposed on the company) with what is left up to the employee (soft skills, languages, office technology, etc.). Crossed with the 70:20:10 model, MOOCs shed light on what the future of corporate training might look like.

TRAINING (IN-PERSON) 82%

PROJECTS 64%

CROSS-TRAINING 57%

COACHING 52%

HANDS-ON wORk 49%

MENTORING 32%

COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE / NETwORkING 22%

SEMINAR, CONFERENCE 20%

E-LEARNING 16%

READING 4%

ASSOCIATIONS 3%

Talent management in French companies

(Féfaur-ANDRH Study, March 2013)(available in French only)


CMOOC AND XMOOCA

HOW LEARNING TAKES PLACE IN THE WORKPLACEB


A MOOC is, first and foremost, a website that delivers resource materials in a format that meets the needs of the web 2.0 learner. Short sessions that fit easily into one’s schedule, accessible from a computer or mobile device, free of clutter (can always click on links for more information), often based on a "situational" approach (that carries over into collaborative work), or even storytelling when the teacher/instructor takes advantage of video code.

MOOCs depend massively on videos, which are extremely popular with internet users, and with good reason: all subject areas are

covered, and the fact that video reintroduces the human desire to imitate and learn in a self-education environment. It’s also an inexpensive medium: the cost of one live shoot, or even an in-studio shoot, has plummeted.

Since MOOC developers have had to deliver their work across multiple devices from the very beginning, we can learn a lesson from them on "responsive design", an approach that allows content to automatically fit any screen. To be continued...

5 ou 15 €

In the "Innovating Pedagogy" 2013 report (Open University), MOOCs rank at the top with the largest potential impact and short timescale.

Note that the four innovations that immediately follow have to do with MOOCs to one extent or another.

Such is the case with "badges", a graphic and therefore "visible" recognition of skills acquired through a MOOC. Employees and individuals can collect badges to mold their skills profile in near real-time, strengthening an essential element of their online identity on social networks, for example.

The same is true for "learning analytics" – the data learners produce during their interactions with e-learning environments. The amount of data is so large (referred to as "big data") that it provides new predictive analysis capabilities

and opportunities to continue improving learning environments.

"Seamless learning" is essentially enabling learners to continue their activities across multiple devices (PC, tablet, smartphone, etc.), picking up on one device where they left off on another; a particularly common practice among MOOC participants who often stay up-to-date with the latest developments.

As for "Crowd Learning", an extension of social learning, what model could represent it any better than MOOCs, which are, in many ways, social networks geared towards learning. It is hardly surprising that it first appeared in an academic setting, where the idea of social networks (Facebook) was born, nor the fact that capital is rushing into what could prove to be "the golden place", where the education/training markets and the social web intersect.

INNOVATIONS IN EDUCATIONC

WEB DESIGND



SOCIAL…IS KEY

MOOC’s main contribution is how they are shaping social learning. Other features – social networks or social functionality on LMS platforms – make it possible to create and organize online learning communities in companies that have them. Still, their potential remains largely untapped. The issue isn’t the technology, but rather the lack of projects that can motivate participants to engage in such collaboration.

MOOCs have managed to achieve the impossible: engage thousands of learners in interactions that provide true substance to learning communities and add real value, such as content-rich material.

The MOOC model is efficient, practical, and technically easy to implement for companies seeking to develop a collaborative e-learning strategy, perhaps even a social or Knowledge Management network. There are some real advantages to a collaborative model: flexibility, limited scope (skills to learn, problem to solve), short-lived (an average MOOC is 10 to 12 weeks long), interactive teaching methods, project-based, investigational, and task-oriented. Interactions among the community are highly focused on the well-defined goal of developing skills within a specific field.

The MOOC model is efficient (…) for companies seeking to develop a collaborative e-learning strategy.


Designed by the University of Virginia’s Darden Business School and delivered on the Coursera platform, the MOOC "Foundations of Business Strategy" had 90,000 students registered from 143 countries. Private individuals, entrepreneurs, employees... A community "challenged" by more than a hundred case studies from large- to medium-sized businesses, in over thirty countries, who wanted to benefit from the "MOOCers’" strategic analysis. At the end of the MOOC, 60% of these companies wanted to continue collaborating with the students who were working on their strategy. Finding a solution to a problem and identifying the best candidates to recruit...what’s better than that?

Imagine transforming this MOOC into a corporate SPOC, bringing managers and executives together to create a vision of what their company would look like in 5 years. Virtual back-and-forth discussions, within the SPOC community, knowledge sharing, a deliverable (strategic plan), face-to-face meetings ("flipped" meetings), and moderated by an outside consultant/expert/instructor...now that’s right up our alley! But let’s not forget that size is also a critical factor in maintaining a sufficient number of conversations.

And the technology goes completely unnoticed: in a MOOC, speaking, commenting, scoring, taking notes, and sharing is like breathing. Communication can take place synchronously (chat, discussion forums, online conferences) or asynchronously (web mail). These fundamental MOOC services are available either natively or through widely-used third-party applications installed on learners’ devices (Skype, GoogleApps such as Google Hang Out). MOOC platforms are able to integrate content and collaborative services well ahead of corporate training portals or off-the-shelf portals from commercial vendors, who are often more concerned about selling their modules to customers than helping them implement a collaborative training strategy.

AN MOOC TO SOLVE PROBLEMS AND RECRUITA

SOCIAL IS kEY


ASSESSMENT AND CERTIFICATION

Training quality is a matter of priority for training managers.

The situation has been exposed: the exorbitant costs of training, for public finance and for businesses, in terms of the value created in exchange. There’s no place for laziness ("If you think education is expensive, try ignorance"). The training function needs to have a sound model in place to evaluate activities and track results. This is especially true in the business world, where its purpose is to foster the growth of people and jobs.

People: it’s well known that employees are hungry for anything that can enhance their employability and improve their well-being at work. This is reflected in the desire for certification programs, since the earned certificate can be used as a way to accelerate their career (within or outside of the company).

MOOCs are able to adequately meet this demand for credentials, especially if they’re not granted by some obscure school or continuing education organization, but rather from an internationally-recognized education brand.

The training function needs to have a sound model in place to evaluate activities and track results.


Furthermore, MOOCs address the issue of formative evaluation nicely. The saying goes in many CPD programs: the instructor asked to provide objective evidence who has nothing to say, speaks for itself. And when by chance an assessment does exist, it is rarely done on an individual basis. The badges promoted by MOOCs (on the Coursera and edX platforms, for example) have many benefits: visibility, ability for learners to collect them as they go along, peer and instructor assessments, objective demonstration of activities that can be traced on the MOOC platform, etc. And speaking of collection: these badges add a real element of play in MOOC-based learning that can even be taken a step further, such as contests among community members, initiated either by the instructor or by the learners themselves (breaking a record for earning the most badges, for example).

Note also that MOOC platforms provide at least as much feedback as traditional training portals do – status of materials used, completed work and work in progress, schedule, percentage of completion in the MOOC – all represented in easy-to-read graphs (Web Dashboard), giving learners (and instructors) all the information they need.

One last point: while content delivered through a MOOC is typically free, certification usually costs money. One avenue subject training organizations can pursue, or at least those who want to try to reinvent themselves based on this fact, is to take the training and online content that has become harder to sell, and sell the proof demonstrating that the skills were indeed acquired. A great project instructors can plan for.

EVALUATION AND CERTIFICATION

MOOCs address the issue of formative evaluation nicely.


CASE STUDY: VODECLIC

Vodeclic is similar to a corporate MOOC, or even an xMOOC, where learners can develop their desktop computer skills little by little, through a structured approach, and resulting in certification. As we alluded to in the foreword, this similarity was, to a large extent, the impetus for drafting this White Paper.

This "all-in-one" (content and services) online platform, specializing in desktop computer skills e-learning 2.0, is used by 1.1 million individuals and employees (not too far off from Coursera and Udacity) who learn computer software in one of the 6 different languages offered by Vodeclic. Massive? Certainly. In sync with the almost universal use of office tools and the Internet. And that’s not all: one billion users will change their desktop environment within the next 3 to 5 years, and half of them will need training. Their catalog is also massive: 18,000 how-to-videos, each lasting only a few minutes, developed in HTML5 so that they can be played on any device on the market, mobile or otherwise, and demonstrating how to use the features of the largest selection of software and internet tools. The videos, which are valuable on two levels – self-learning and performance support – easily adapt to the learner’s environment, mobile or otherwise, by virtue of their "responsive design".

Another MOOC trend is this credo: the "real customer" is the user. Their satisfaction is what matters, as it determines not only the training manager’s level of satisfaction, but also that of the company, who wants to reduce the direct or indirect costs of its employees’ lack of computer skills – a cost that grows as versions change, which are increasingly more frequent since online office tools are now collaborative (Microsoft Office 365, Google Apps): it’s obviously the Cloud way or the highway!

User is King


Yes, Vodeclic is 100% online. But it’s also an open platform, which means that the pricing is such that companies don’t have to think about who they should enroll: the solution is readily available to all employees! This is a radical departure from many traditional off-the-shelf e-learning vendors who restrict access to their course catalog, leaving it up to the company to decide who should and shouldn’t be given training. True, the universal need for computer skills simplifies matters.

Vodeclic is furthermore patterned after an MOOC in the way they emphasize not only the assessment of computer skills at the most granular level, but also their certification, which is consistent with the most commonly used standards (ICDL, TOSA and MOS). Another useful feature is the ability to analyze the most relevant answer, among the multiple ways of achieving the same result, by identifying internal experts who could be helpful.

The platform will soon offer the ability to earn badges to further enhance users’ profiles. The social function playing a broader role is one differentiator Vodeclic brings to the table: taking a cue, for example, from MOOCs and social networks, the platform allows users to customize their profiles and upload their pictures, and lets instructors "push" e-learning tutorials (each with their own URL) out to learners. IT help desks can even use this feature to quickly respond to users’ questions. And soon, Vodeclic tutorials will be available to share on social networks.

Particular attention is paid to how learners interact with each other on the platform. It is the basis for ongoing improvements (Agile) to achieve the web industry’s Holy Grail: a rewarding user experience (UX). For example, a user’s search activities returning zero results are used to add new keywords to the thesaurus, or notes taken by users in the system are used to improve searches in the Vodeclic module database.

CASE STUDY: VODECLIC


YOUR FIRST...COOC

Incorporating a corporate MOOC solution (now dubbed COOC, for Corporate Open Online Course)...So where do you begin?

First is to set up a curator role specifically devoted to this project. This involves identifying the main solutions offered for each professional development area, the institutions that deliver them, in France and abroad (particularly for large corporations), the associated instructors, the certifications available, the learner’s workload, the work he must produce, and the timetables (start and end dates, schedule).

An important part of the curator’s task is to be an MOOC watchdog, which becomes even more crucial for training departments as the company expands its use of web-based training content. This effort can be partly automated using content curation tools, such as "paper.li" or "scoop.it". Such tools specifically designed for the MOOC world are expected to emerge and become widespread and will be able to discover MOOCs that meet whatever criteria the training managers define.

The first piece of advice we can give a training manager who wants to move forward: sign up for an MOOC and pursue it to the end, including certification.


YOUR FIRST... MOOC

Watching the MOOC market not only involves identifying those that can meet specific and cross-disciplinary employee and business needs, but testing some of them as well. The first piece of advice we can give a training manager who wants to move forward: sign up for an MOOC and pursue it to the end, including certification. It’s one way to truly know what to expect, what kind of commitment is required for the learner, and how this approach can be integrated in the company’s training program. One test isn’t enough; they must be revisited on a regular basis, and then test (this time more quickly) the MOOCs with the greatest potential for the company. The training manager can use his MOOC dashboard to prioritize a list of a few dozen MOOCs, based on the most relevant criteria for the company.

It will be only a matter of time before initial testing can take place. This entails, just as with any strategic change to the training program and offering, selecting the first projects. In doing so, the learning manager will be that much more confident having this critical and soon-to-be indispensable skill in training management and governance – the critical yet practical skill and commitment to streamline and get quick results. Of course, it’s also important to recruit a few employees who are interested in taking a MOOC. Hopefully, the learning manager will have already identified participants who are ready for change. There are plenty of advantages to a MOOC, so this task shouldn’t be too difficult. The prospect of receiving training for a real professional need, from a major global education brand, evidenced by a certificate issued by this brand, 100% virtual, not very time-consuming, and connecting with learners of many different backgrounds and professions... That’s what employees who have been waiting months for training, or who are disappointed in their company’s current e-learning solution, want to see!

It’s a truism that all projects, especially pilot projects, need feedback. But it rarely happens. Companies are far from reaching their full potential for improvement if they implemented a formal feedback process. Is it because they don’t have time? Because so much energy was put into the project that there was none left to obtain this feedback? Not knowing what they are trying to validate or modify? A little bit of everything. MOOC testing should be an opportunity for the training department to get started on the right foot – why not? – and to use the MOOC approach as an indication of what other training practices they need to change. It can serve as the basis for understanding what to expect from social learning, or even for drafting a statement of requirements to send to the LMS provider. These initial tests should convince the training manager that there aren’t any technical barriers that would prevent employees from participating in MOOCs.

The training manager should be prepared to meet users’ initial requests, which are bound to happen since employees represent the bulk of MOOCers. But he may find it beneficial to stimulate interest internally by carefully choosing the right MOOCs.

Some areas of training let you thoroughly test solutions that are a lot like MOOCs. The highly innovative language field, in particular, has inspired some of the biggest MOOC providers, with offerings on YouTube or in language learning communities (the 12 million users belonging to Livemocha, for example, recently acquired by Rosetta Stone). Vodeclic contends that computer skills e-learning 2.0 is also worth trying out; comparing it to previous-generation platforms says enough about how much the training industry has been shaken up.

And you won’t be alone! As usual, the English-speaking world was the first in line!


YOUR FIRST... MOOC

The market is more open than ever.

E-learning 1.0 "pure-players", just like traditional training providers, will have to defend themselves in this online content market against top and less well-known education brands.

Not one of them, in fact, is making a stand, at a time when they can finally serve the global market, or otherwise generate additional income locally, which they so desperately need. This is especially true for French universities, which the government is gradually detaching themselves from: they often underestimate the revenues that can be generated by their continuing education departments. They have content galore, often of very high quality. They’re just lacking a distribution model, which can be accomplished with MOOCs (if the business model isn’t already crystal clear).

How do you jump on the train before it gains too much speed, without cannibalizing existing revenues? That’s the big question training providers and generic e-learning advocates have to think about.

Platform markets are also affected. LMSs are safe for now, especially since the best ones have been upgraded by integrating training and talent management. But MOOC platforms could be fierce competition. For starters, they will quickly evolve under the pressure of users, who have the potential to be far more numerous and demanding. The greatest digital successes over the past decade – Apple, Facebook, Google, Amazon – all came into being from B2C and then started investing in the business world. Then, there is the fact that capital is pouring in (the $43M raised by Coursera, for example, or the $60M in funds allocated to this sector by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation). While Coursera, edX, and Udacity have the most well-known platforms today, we will witness an explosion of offerings from some not-so-surprising sources: the recent launch of Solerni, Orange’s MOOC platform, is a perfect example (Largest telecom operator in France).

Place your bets!

PLACE YOUR BETS!

TRAINER: THE FUTURE IS STILL UNKNOWN...

A

B

The future of the trainer is obviously still unknown. Here again, MOOCs are changing the game.

Act 1 (early 2000s): e-learning makes its appearance in companies. Its promoters declare their ambition to reduce the role of training. The training community starts to worry, and then integrates itself, giving rise to e-learning + training (blended learning). And one question emerges: what is the role of the trainer in this type of model? It’s still of facilitator, or developer, since e-learning modules require a more structured design than is usually found in face-to-face training; or of mentor (a term that, generally speaking, encompasses all activities that help guide the learner). Although that was certainly reassuring, it seemed like the profession had to break away from the role it had been up to then: running a training course.

Act 2 (today): MOOCs appear to be able to bring the trainer back to center stage. The most successful programs (curiously) are developed by well-known instructors. But users can just as quickly remove themselves from the program if the instructor doesn’t have at least an ounce of the online charisma that’s needed in videos. We can then expect to see the "making of two stars": the institution (the education brand) and the instructor. While charisma is important, it probably won’t be essential over the long term whether the instructor or trainer can or will motivate a community of learners. The key will be the ability to define and implement such a motivation strategy. The trainer taking the role of "community manager" and curator, specializing in the field of business knowledge: there’s no doubt about that!


ABOUT

Founded in 2006 by Michel Diaz and Aude Dellacherie, Fēfaur is the biggest independent eLearning research and consultancy firm in the French market, and a European leader.

Fēfaur advises and supports companies and training organisations as they define and implement their eLearning strategies.

Fēfaur publishes the "Fēfaur LMS Benchmark", a comparative study of the major LMS platforms on the French market, to which many companies subscribe. Fēfaur helps companies and training organisations to express their needs and to choose and implement an LMS platform.

Fēfaur publishes authoritative economic and technical studies on eLearning supply and demand in the French market.

Contributing to numerous seminars, conferences and round tables in France and overseas, Fēfaur directs the publication of www.e-learning-letter.com, the leading French website for eLearning business information.

www.fefaur.com

20 % (1) of employees attend training every year. 47 % (2) of employees struggle using new technologies. 90 % (3) of jobs require desktop computer skills.

Vodeclic is a cloud-based training company for desktop software, web apps and cloud services. With over 18,000 how-to videos in six languages (English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Mandarin Chinese) – and 1000+ new additions each month – Vodeclic.com is an all-in-one solution designed to help users enhance their digital, internet and collaborative skills. The solution features exclusive courses and learning tools for all users, as well as business analytics and APIs for enterprise customers, from SMB to Fortune 500.

Vodeclic is trusted by 1,1 million users and 4,500+ customers worldwide.

www.vodeclic.com

1 INSEE – DARES - 20102 European Union Study – Digital Agenda Scoreboard - 20123 IDC - 2011

http://www.vodeclic.com

http://business.vodeclic.com

About this Féfaur White Paper

Copyright © Féfaur. All rights reserved."Take the corporate MOOC plunge!" White Paper.Translated from "Osez votre MOOC d’entreprise"

Design and production: Corentin Saint-Michel / www.cokoo.fr

No part of this Féfaur White Paper may be duplicated, copied, published, or reused without explicitly stating the title, date, author names,

and site address.

It may not be published directly on a website without express prior authorization.

Documents

Take the corporate MOOC - cedma-europe.org articles/misc/Take the Corporate... · There’s been quite a lot of talk lately about MOOCs... ... disjointed courses and e-learning modules,