Post in response to #H817open MOOC Activity 12: Is a MOOC suitable for my organisation?
Hypothetical organisation: A commercial training provider, providing for frontline workers engaged in family work on behalf of public and voluntary sector organisations, including childcare providers.
Would a MOOC model of training delivery be suitable?
In a nutshell, no, not at the moment. The chief reasons for this are a lack of digital literacy skills in the bulk of those currently engaged in the work (the potential market), as well as unfamiliarity with the paradigm. The expectation and comfort of this workforce is largely with face-to-face, workshop style delivery, thought it has to be said there is some pioneering work being done in this arena, with some local authorities making innovative use of webinars to deliver training to childcare settings, which increases the accessibility of a largely immobile workforce. There is also an expectation of content rich training and validation/accreditation, which are not really features of MOOCs (not at the moment anyway).
Another barrier is the current level of the same digital literacy skills and familiarity of the medium of those trainers utilised by the organisation.
At the moment, MOOCs are (in my opinion) a step too far for the bulk of the potential market, and also beyond the organisational capabilities.
Very interested to hear from others on this one. Thanks