MOOCs-employers-students

Employers like MOOCs — if they know what one is


Study suggest most employers don’t know what a massive open online course is

MOOCs-employers-studentsEmployers are fans of massive open online courses (MOOCs), according to a new study by researchers at Duke University and RTI International. But many first had to have the concept explained to them.

“We were interested in exploring how employers viewed MOOCs in terms of whether they would make a difference in hiring decisions or how they might be used for recruiting talent,” said Laura Horn, the RTI’s site principal investigator.

The study, funded by the Gates Foundation, was based on a survey of more than 100 human resource professionals from North Carolina employers. About 70 percent of the respondents had never heard of a MOOC before.

Once they had a working definition, however, the majority of participants said they were receptive to using MOOCs in hiring decisions. They especially liked the idea of using MOOCs for professional development training.

(Next page: Can a MOOC get you hired?)

Three quarters of the employers indicated that job applicants taking a related MOOC would be perceived positively in the hiring process. Nearly half said they could see their company or organization using MOOCs for recruitment in the future.

“These online courses have quickly grown in popularity in the past couple of years, but there hasn’t been any research showing how employers view MOOCs,” said Alexandria Walton Radford, the study’s director. “We found that there’s still a ways to go before most employers know about the availability of these classes, but once they learn of them, they see their potential, especially for professional development purposes.”

Only seven percent of the employers said they were using MOOCs for professional development and employee training.

But more than 70 percent said they would now consider doing so, a number that is likely to please executives at some MOOC platforms, such as Udacity,  that have made a push away from traditional education toward vocational training in recent months.

“We need to know more about what courses appeal to companies and how they fit into existing opportunities for continuing education,” said Keith Whitfield, the study’s the principal investigator.

Follow Jake New on Twitter at @eCN_Jake.

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