Hungry for New Knowledge? Future Learning Available Today: Free Open Online Courses

© Marta Podniece 'The Postcard'

Not a long while ago I enrolled myself in an online course about Erasmus+ Funding Opportunities for Youth, which was held on a learning platform called 'Canvas Network'. However, while completing this course the whole new world of online education winked at me and triggered to dive deeper into it and explore the enormous possibilities of online education available for today's curious learner. While looking for the online opportunities to study the subjects that have caught my interest I was directed to Erasmus+ funded portal called 'Open Education Europa' [www.openeducationeuropa.eu] that serves as a network offering information on a wide range of MOOCs [Massive Open Online Courses], courses, resources and institutions that contribute to this joint idea of making the connected and innovative way of learning possible. However, particularly a few learning platforms caught my eye by offering free online courses in various disciplines, namely FutureLearn [www.futurelearn.com] and iversity [https://iversity.org], and the previously mentioned Canvas Network [www.canvas.net].

I decided to explore and compare the options each of these learning platforms offer like what can you can study online, who is offering you the education and in what language, how the learning is done, how can you prove that you have studied and are these free online courses really FREE?  

What can you study online?

FutureLearn offers courses divided in categories by subjects (in total 13), namely Business & Management, Creative Arts & Media, Health & Psychology, History, Languages & Cultures, Law, Literature, Nature & Environment, Online & Digital, Politics & the Modern World, Science, Maths & Technology, Sport & Leisure, Teaching & Studying. After choosing a category appears a list of courses, e.g. in creative arts & media category a person can enroll in courses like 'Start Writing Fiction', 'Brand Storytelling: How to Use Narrative to Sell', 'Introduction in Journalism', 'How to Write Your First Song' or 'How to Build a Sustainable Fashion Business'. Apart from the very traditional subjects, oriented on developing particular skills, some courses offer to study subjects that are blended together and makes it more interesting, e.g. 'Medicine and the Arts: Humanizing Healthcare'. Similarly diverse subjects can be also chosen in other categories, e.g. in nature & environment you can find courses such as 'Moons', 'Shipwrecks and Submerged Worlds: Maritime Archaeology', 'The Science of Nuclear Energy', 'Our Hungry Planet: Agriculture, People and Food Security', 'Exploring Possible Futures: Modeling in Environmental and Energy Economics' or even 'What Works: Promising Practices in International Development'.

When you go to the course section at iversity the division of subjects is not made, however there is a possibility to choose to view all courses at once, however also the ongoing, the upcoming or the finished courses can be viewed separately. Since there are not millions of courses presented, it is fairly easy to look through everything available. Modesty in supply is probably this company's hidden motto. From the currently ongoing or starting soon courses you can find courses that fall into categories such as business and management, psychology, environment, politics and policy making, communication science, self-development, graphic design etc. So, for example, there's a chance to enroll for 'Presentation Skills for Business', 'eTourism: Communication Perspectives', 'Building Strong Digital Brands', 'Climate Change & Health for Policy-makers', 'Idea Generation Methods', 'Social Innovation MOOC', 'Bullying 101: Beyond Common Sense', 'Digital Arts', 'Modelling and Simulation using MATLAB' and many other.

On Canvas Network a division of subjects is also not made, but when you open homepage 20 upcoming soon or currently ongoing courses are listed down in rows of four. Under the bottom row of the last four there's a button 'Load more' that allows to see the next 20 courses and so on (in total 64 courses are offered at this moment). From the first 40 loaded courses on the page a wide variety of subjects are presented in different disciplines such as business and management, self-development, international development, history, teaching and studying, maths, health and technology etc. Here you can find courses like 'Developing a Food Bank Nutrition Policy: A Guide to Procure Healthful Foods', 'Biometric Technologies: Identification for the Future', 'Gaming Literacy and Learning', 'Essential Quantitative Skills for Business', 'Employability Skills for Industry', 'USAID Land Tenure and Property Rights', 'Corporate Social Responsibility: New Market Conditions', 'History of Boston' or even '30 Days of TED' or 'Introduction to Finding Grants'. Every of the learning platforms has a search option, however especially on Canvas Network's large pool of courses it becomes handy to type in keywords for the type of knowledge you're seeking for, though there is no guarantee that all courses that will appear in the search will match the exact subject you were looking for, so the keywords you enter must be very specific.

Every course on all three learning platforms includes a course description stating the content, structure and the goals of the course, as well the intended audience and the necessary prior knowledge (if any) before taking the course. The starting and ending date of the course is also indicated.

Who is giving you the free online courses and in what language?

Briefly going through the organizations that provide the free online courses, I found out that the courses on FutureLearn are provided mostly only by official universities (and a very few organizations e.g. British Council), however on iversity and Canvas Network beside universities and colleges among education providers can be found also numerous organizations from private sector.

Among the selection of universities providing online courses on learning platforms some dominating features of preferences also could be found. For example, on FutureLearn you can find names of European universities and colleges mostly, to be precise - the British universities are taking the lead, however among the education providers also occasionally pop-up universities of other countries like New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, China, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Norway and even South Korea. On the contrary on iversity the lead is taken by course offers from German universities, however also some Italian, British, Swiss and Dutch universities can be found among online education providers on this platform. Whereas on Canvas Network the course offers are dominated mostly by American universities and organizations, and only a tiny bit of offers are provided from universities of the Netherlands, Australia, France or Great Britain.

The main language of learning in all three learning platforms is English, however there is an opportunity to take courses also in other languages. While courses on FutureLearn are taught only in English, on iversity some courses are also provided in German and also Italian. Whereas on Canvas Network beside courses in English, a few opportunities pop-up also for French speakers.

How the learning is done?

If you have chosen to go for one of the courses offered on the learning platforms, all you need is a functioning e-mail to register and a steady internet connection to access the course. There is no classroom setting or real-life contact with tutors or other students as you could have already imagined, however the 'liveliness' is created through the online discussion panels to create peer-to-peer interaction, though not all of the courses offer this option. For example, I enrolled myself on a course 'Introduction to Finding Grants' on Canvas Network which is a self-paced course without any discussion or instructor's feedback possible. On the contrary the course I mentioned in the beginning of this post that I also took on Canvas Network was divided in weeks per subjects to be learned and included option for online discussion between instructors of the course and peer-students that became available after completing a particular set of learning material. A similar approach of dividing learning themes of the courses in weeks and using peer-to-peer interaction as an assessment tool for progress is used on FutureLearn and iversity, as is stated in their FAQs.

The learning tools and methods for obtaining knowledge that are used in these online learning platforms are subject-related videos (could also be recorded lectures), audio recordings, written articles, quizzes and tests for checking the obtained knowledge and also assigned individual tasks. The interaction between students themselves and between educators about unclear items or questions is made possible through discussion panels (if available). The online working panel (Dashboard) is constructed fairly easy and is similar to those used at real-time universities these days.

If the course you've chosen doesn't meet you're expectations on FutureLearn and Canvas Network it is fairly easy to drop the course even before it has started (in case if you have changed your mind) - Canvas Network has a grey gear button and by clicking on it an option for dropping the course appears, whereas FutureLearn provides a link with much clearer indication 'Leave this course' just under the course item. On iversity it appears that you can drop the course once it has started, since no grey gear button (that they indicated in FAQs about this issue) shows up on a course that is not yet running.

How can you prove that you have done the course and is it really for FREE?

All three learning platforms in almost all cases offer a possibility to obtain an official document that would acknowledge your participation in a course and that you have successfully completed it. However, there are some BUTs. For example, on FutureLearn learning platform due to completion of the chosen course (in which you have successfully completed the majority of steps on a course and did all the tests) you can buy a FutureLearn Statement of Participation (34 British Pounds + sending costs) in both digital and printed formats and that seems apparently the only way to show that you have taken part in this course if you care to have it. However, this statement will include also the outline of the content learned during the course, longevity of the course, logos of the university and of other organizations associated with the course, as well as lead educator's signature. The great bonus of this document's digital version is that it can be easily added to your certifications on LinkedIn profile, as advertised on the platform. On some occasions it is also possible to obtain a Statement of Attainment by taking and passing (previously booked) real-world exams at local test centres.

On iversity learning platform the things seem a bit more complicated. The recognition you can get is divided in accordance to your chosen 'track'. The tracks correspond with the level of education you can get from the course and there are three major tracks available. The simplest is audit track that allows you to follow the course and obtain all the course material as well as to participate in the online course community. The good news is that if you have successfully completed the course you receive a free of charge Statement of Participation issued by iversity, though your success in the course is ungraded. However, it does not mean that it is granted for nothing, for example, when I enrolled myself in course 'Regions, EU Institutions and Policy-Making' I was informed that in order to get the Statement of Participation I need to complete 80% of course content. Another, though more complicated is certificate track which is a paid study path in which you get the same options as in audit track, however upon completion of the course you're required to take a final online-protocoled exam. If you pass the exam, you get a Certificate of Accomplishment and a Certificate Supplement issued by iversity. Certificate of Accomplishment  will contain your grade, the description of the course and lead educator's signature. Finally, there is also ECTS track, which is also a paid study path. By choosing ECTS track you are required to participate in a final on-site exam. If you successfully pass the exam you're qualified to receive ECTS credits, though these credits are issued by the educator's teaching university as well as Certificate of Accomplishment and Certificate Supplement. The prices of tracks differ per organization that offers the course and it also appears that organizations can choose which tracks they want to offer, so not necessarily all courses will have an audit track or ECTS track.

On Canvas Network learning platform enrolling and following the course is free of charge, however Canvas Network does not issue any certificates of accomplishment or participation and it's the responsibility of organizers or sponsoring institutions of the course you take. If an obtainment of certificate is not indicated in the course description before enrolling in the course, you should contact the organizers of the course for more details on this issue, as is stated in platform's FAQs.

Choose wisely and enjoy the future learning today! ;)