With the growing popularity of MOOCs phenomenon, there emerged various for-profit and non-profit organizations providing platforms to host or offer MOOCs. To identify a list of MOOCs platforms for universities to consider, the results from the Google search engine, MOOC aggregator sites Class Central and MOOC List, blogs, together with other literature were combined. The target was to include the most widespread and prevalent platforms with English as the primary language. A total of eighteen MOOCs platforms were then included into the review and decision making process. Four categories as first-level attributes are: general attributes, course attributes, technology attributes, and partnership attributes. The total of 19 second-level attributes go under the first-level four categories. In this webinar, you will have an overview of 18 MOOC platforms under 19 attributes.

1. MOOCs Platforms Panoramic
By Jingjing Lin
USI Università della Svizzera italiana 11/06/2015

4. 3. Technology Attributes
3.1 mobile app and responsive design
3.2 learning analytics
1. General Attributes
1.1 users
1.2 social accounts integration
1.3 free access
◦ free to register
◦ free to learn
◦ free to be certified
◦ free to teach
2. Course Attributes
2.1 max size of course
2.2 number/width of courses
2.3 operation mode
2.4 course features
4. Business Attributes
4.1 partnership
4.2 for-profit/non-profit
4.3 institutional credits
4.4 monetization

5. GENERAL INFORMATION

6. USERS OF 18 PLATFORMS
24288
10550
5000
4000
3000
1600 900 600 500 349 200 144 50 9 0 0 0 0
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
Users (thousand)

7. 6
4 4
3 3 3
2 2 2 2 2 2
1
0 0 0 0 0
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
NO. OF SOCIAL ACCOUNTS
Facebook Google LinkedIn Youtube Yahoo Microsoft Guokr.com Twitter

8. Email Facebook Google LinkedIn Youtube Yahoo Microsoft Guokr.com Twitter
MOOCS PLATFORMS SOCIAL ACCOUNTS INTEGRATION

9. FreeAccess
Free to register (all free)
Image Sources: 1 2 3 4
Free to learn
Free to be certified
Free to teach

10. Free to learn Partially free to learn Mostly paid courses

11. Have free certificates. Only paid certificates. No certificates.

12. Anyone free to teach Free to teach as professor Pay partnership fee to teach

13. COURSE ATTRIBUTES

14. Max Size of Course Or the maximum number of students per course
• Most platforms have courses without size limitation.
• Versal can enrol unlimited anonymous students. But up
to 25,000 will be tracked under the subscription plan.

15. Platforms No. of Courses Width of Courses
Udemy
Eliademy
Coursera
Academic Earth
OpenLearning
Alison
edX
NovoEd
P2P University
FutureLearn
Canvas Network
Coursesites
Versal
Udacity
Open2Study
Iversity
OpenEducation
Khan Academy
Number/WidthofCourses
Ornumberofcourses/subjects

16. Attention:
• edX slightly more weight on science, medcine,technology subjects.
• Coursera is most balanced in subjects covering.
• Udacity majorly covers computer science, math, programming, and only has three non-tech
courses.
• KHANACADEMY heavily includes maths and university/college tests preparation subjects.
• Versal, iversity, and Canvas Network do not categorize their courses under specific subjects.

17. Mixed Time-driven Self-paced
NovoED FutureLearn Versal
Canvas Network Udacity
iversity Udemy
openlearning Khan Academy
Eliademy Coursesites
Coursera Academy Earth
Open Education P2P University
open2study Alison
edX
OperationModeortimedriven/self-paced/mixed

18. Feature Percentage of having the feature
Video subtitle
Create a page
Quiz
Discussion
Share web link
Downloadable files
Video embed/hosted from Youtube
Progress bar
Assignment/Assessment
Upload video
Video speed control
Peer collaboration
Messaging system
Video transcript embedded
Download video
CourseFeatures

19. Note: x in the table stands for the absence of the feature in the platform.
Course Features by Platform

20. TECHNOLOGY ATTRIBUTES

21. Mobile App and Responsive Site
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
Mobile App Responsive site

22. Learning Analytics or analysis of course data revealed
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
Learning Analytics (provided to course provider) Learning Statistics (displayed to user)

23. BUSINESS ATTRIBUTES

24. Partnership
• Coursera (top tier universities; 6-15% each, 20% aggregated set of courses; 3rd party).
• edX (self-financed model: 50,000, 10,000, 50%; edx-supported model: 250,000, 50,000, >=70%; 3rd party)
• Udacity (estimated USD 200,000 per course; Georgia Institute of Technology, San Jose State University)
• FutureLearn (Confidential and not to be displayed here)
• NovoED (Confidential not to be displayed here)
• Khan Academy approaches and decides on the partners selection on one side.
• Udemy and versal partner with business sectors.
• Coursesites accepts individual instructors. Open Education partners are Blackboard universities clients.
• Canvas Network, iversity, Eliademy, and openlearning are free to partner with universities.
• No partnership information found on the following platforms: Academic Earth, P2P University, Alison,
Open2Study.

25. 107
86
64
44
40
30
25 24
17
14
8
2 1 0 0 0 0 0
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
No. of Academic Partners

26. Institutional credits
• Some courses on Coursera, Udacity and iversity bear institutional credits that can be recognized by
partner institutions.
• For example, Udacity partners with Georgia Tech on a course.

27. For-profit/Non-profit
Non-profit platforms:
• FutureLearn
• edX
• Khan Academy
• P2P University
• Open2Study

28. Monetization or revenue sources of the course
• Udemy
• Udacity
• openlearning
• NovoED
• Eliademy
Sell
paid courses
• FutureLearn
• Alison
• edX
• Coursera
• Udacity
• iversity
• Eliademy
Sell
accreditation

29. edX
• Free to audit courses.
• Honor code certificates are free.
• Verified certificates are available for a fee that varies by
course.
• Xseries certificates price on the range of $100 – 450
depending on courses on the list.

30. Coursera
• Statement of Accomplishment • Specialization Certificate
• Signature Track
• Verified Certificates

31. Udacity
• Free access to course materials.
• Class Enrollment
Need to pay for enrollment for full experiences in a selection of classes. This gives you access to projects,
code-review and feedback, a personal Coach, and verified certificates. The price varies depending on the
course. All prices are given per month.
• Verified Certificates
Awarded based on successful completion of course projects. After successfully completing your final project,
your identity will be verified through a live exit interview during which you will need to show government-
issued identification and chat with one of our project evaluators to verify your independent work on your final
project. Upon successful completion of this process, you will receive an official Udacity verified certificate.
• Nanodegree Credentials
You can take a Nanodegree program for $200/month. Most programs are expected to take between 6-12
months to complete, depending on your study schedule and prior background.

32. References
• Kolowich, S. (2013). How EdX plans to earn, and share, revenue from its free online
courses. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 21.
• What do MOOCS cost? (2013) Retrieved on March 23, 2015 from:
http://www.mindingthecampus.com/2013/09/what_do_moocs_cost/
This document by Jingjing Lin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

33. THE RISE OF USI MOOCS
GET TUNED
For any question, please contact me via jingjing.lin@usi.ch