I’ve taken many MOOC courses on COURSERA.ORG. To be honest I
think I’ve probably completed one for every five that I’ve actually started
given time constraints and other responsibilities. Without question there are a
lot of very interesting subjects that can be taken by all through Coursera and they
all are free (with exceptions and caveats explained below).
At present and as I understand it Coursera has two tracks
when you take a class with them. One is a “Statement of Accomplishment” and the
other is a “Verified Certificate.” A statement of accomplishment is free to
students (kudos to Coursera), but verified certificates cost a lot of money. Coursera in the past had a mechanism where when you earned a “Statement of
Accomplishment” you could post the accomplishment to your LinkedIn account. I’ve
since learned from Jason Cruz from Coursera that this will no longer be an
option and only people who pay for the very expensive “Verified Certificate”
will be able to post to LinkedIn.
I’ve consistently posted my statements of accomplishment to
LinkedIn to encourage my children, employees, and past students that there is
value in being a “lifelong learner.” At my age/position I value the learning
opportunities that Coursera offers, but I don’t consider them career advancing
so I’m uncomfortable paying the extremely large fee for a “Verified Certificate”.
Most importantly though I’m concerned that those who are
unemployed, underemployed, or are struggling to find new opportunities will be
impacted by this poor decision from Coursera.
I’d invite your comments?
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