[:en]MOOCs  – A GOOD WAY TO UPGRADE ONE`S CAREER[:]

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Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is an Internet based course with limitless attendance. Meaning, anybody who has Internet access and the will to spend time on learning respective subjects, especially in IT and Economics MOOCs offer a lot,- can join a MOOC, most of the time even for free. Imagining how a MOOC looks like is easy because you can simply think of an ordinary university which has no physically present students and all its exams, lectures and exercises are solely done through the Internet. So far even highly recognised companies, as well as universities like Google and Harvard, have created MOOCs, mutually with MOOC-institutions (e.g. edX, Coursera etc.) because they all believe in MOOCs` original aim which is providing people of lower socio-economic statuses as well as of remote living areas with higher education. However, recent trends have revealed that rather citizens from developed countries (mostly OECD-states) exploit MOOCs in order to boost their own professional career.

But how are MOOCs actually helpful for professional success?

A recent research conducted by Harvard Business Review (hbr.org) shows that 72% of its survey’s respondents reported career benefits due to MOOCs. This includes promotions, job offers and general recognition of improved work. The reason for this kind of professional success is the fact that MOOCs are the only existing alternative to common universities or learning centres which are flexible and have no restrictions on time, guaranteeing calm, convenient and self-paced studying. You are the one who decides when you learn, how much you learn and most importantly what you learn. Especially, busy and already employed workers specifically demand this unique way of receiving higher education. They simply want to utilise the short time spent on taking the bus to work for learning a new skill precisely helping with their individual job or one specific issue, they actually have to solve right now. In this sense picking up samples of a suitable MOOC is not only more helpful than attending a whole semester at university, it makes you even a better worker in a comparatively short time which is why MOOCs are one of them if not, the most efficient way to get knowledge and thus a career benefit.

Even for people who now not hold a work place MOOCs could help their careers. Being unemployed is frustrating as one gets the feeling of permanently losing valuable time. This, however, can be compensated by MOOCs which are in this situation the best time spender to keep oneself competitive on the labour market. Use your spare time to the refreshing knowledge you already possess and by chance add even a new skill to your tool box. Getting a certificate for a newly achieved competence makes definitely sense for unemployed people who can now legitimately write down their recently gained skill in their CV. In this situation, MOOCs will enhance your competitiveness and might even bring the advantage which helps you, in the end, to actually get a job. Although big MOOC-institutions specifically consider employers` demand while building an online course, MOOCs are also helpful for students who already want to learn upcoming subjects or topics in order to be more successful in their universities.

To conclude, MOOCs are truly bringing advantages, improving one`s career in many regards. The best part about it is that one can choose for its own to which extent one wants to utilise MOOCs, making it nearly for everyone helpful and stress less. It still must be mentioned that the first and foremost requirement for a MOOC is creating oneself time and to be motivated enough to start and continue with a MOOC without relying on people from the outside pressuring YOU to actually do it.

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