Coursera is a MOOC that can deliver affordable education in a micro-learning digital environment. It mixes flexibility and practicality with relevance. I will critically reflect on Coursera as a MOOC and my experience with micro-learning technology. Coursera rates well on my personal scale in terms of its ability to provide a global audience with workplace skills that are in demand now Cappelli (2012), additional knowledge to ensure training or prior degrees remain relevant, and its ability to individualize learning plans to promote higher completion rates and increased engagement. In my current employment as the manager of Systems Mapping in the data and technology field, acquiring new technical skills and knowledge in a fast-paced and competitive environment is vital. The skills employers demand today are not always met by the skills acquired in a four-year degree (Jacobs & Worth 2019). Incremental and practical learning is a practiced approach at my company to gain skills, build capacity among teams and members and remain competitive in the technology space. MOOCs such as Coursera offer a quick, accessible and cost-effective way to meet the demands of employers and give learners a competitive edge by remaining skilled in today’s evolving workplaces.
Coursera is the technology our team has chosen to explore; under that technology, I will dive further into the safeguards provided to learners concerning protecting their privacy and security. Three specific areas I will explore are methods used to verify and store personal information, what assessment metrics are collected, used and shared, whether other data is collected, and what purpose it is used for. When it comes to data privacy and security and access to new innovative technologies, it seems like we are continuously faced with the same choice, click accept the terms and conditions or don’t access the technology, but what do we agree to anyway? We demand more out of technology today than before, especially regarding personalization, individualized learning outcomes, respect for individual perspectives, and equitable learning experiences. Data is collected from the student to provide this type of individualized experience. I will reflect on how this data can be used to understand course design and ways to improve training opportunities in a workplace setting while respecting and providing transparency to the student.
I invite input from others on the issue of personal privacy and security as it applies to accessing and engaging in the course material and how assessment is measured and shared in digital MOOC learning environments.
References
Cappelli, P. (2012). Why good people can’t get jobs: The skills gap and what companies can do about it. University of Pennsylvania Press.
Jacobs, J., & Worth, J. (2019). The evolving mission of workforce development in the community college. TU O’Banion (Ed.), 13, 167-190.
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