MOOCS and Micro-Credentials as Launch Pads to Further Education: Challenges and Experiences

Abstract

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are often framed as providing affordable, flexible ways to deliver education on a global scale. However, opportunities for further study are often neither massive nor open. This leads to questions about how MOOCs fit within the broader landscape of online education. The particular focus of this chapter is the role of accredited micro-credentials in the evolution of MOOCs and their potential to offer a pathway from the open online course to further study that leads to credentialed and stackable higher qualifications. These reflections stem from the experience of a higher education institution in New Zealand delivering both free short courses and accredited micro-credentials on a MOOC platform. Data gathered from end-of-course surveys is used to reflect on the motivation of students to engage in further study. While the data reinforces known motivational factors for learners, they reveal limited motivation to progress to micro-credentials from shorter, free courses, despite these micro-credentials successfully recruiting from other pathways. This suggests that perhaps MOOC platforms need to make a greater effort to standardize their definitions and presentation of micro-credentials to ensure that learners are fully aware of their benefits, in particular gaining recognized credentials and being able to stack these into larger qualifications.