Developing skills using MOOCs to enhance your career

MOOCs are getting wider in our community, irrespective of it wide awareness, there is still a barrier to how it is been used, applied and how aware the people are of it. This is happening due to some barriers which are very rampant in our society, example of this is lack of good information about the MOOCs. Firstly, what is MOOC; MOOC is an abbreviation for Massive Open Online Course. MOOC is an online course that provides access for interactive participation by means of the internet, it also enables or, make available the opportunity to learn about virtually any skill from anywhere in the world provided there is an access to the web. Reasons why people decide to develop their skills using MOOCs differs, some of which are; busy schedule, financial status, and some even have a full-time job they are doing but decide to improve their skill using MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). The following are ways to develop your skills using MOOC and getting a better job. Skill Development Using MOOCs: If someone is really interested in taking MOOC Courses to improve his/her skills, there are few things that should be taken care of, to get maximum benefit. As per the statistics, the ratio of online courses completion is very low and there are certain reasons for it. Keeping below things in mind will help in taking MOOCs and getting real benefit. 1. Know The Skill You Want To Acquire: The first to consider is the skill you wish to acquire. There are many skills you can acquire using MOOCs, some of which include; Advance excel skills, Coding, Photography, and writing etc. Top universities including MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Michigan and many more are offering thousands of free online courses through different providers like Coursera, edX, FutureLea etc. 2. Course Review & Feedback: Before you enroll for an online course, it’s highly recommended to check the reviews and feedback about it. Also, do check course duration and weekly engagement as it varies from course to course. Some course requires weekly engagement of 2 to 4 hours while other requires 8 to 10 hours. For working professionals it’s very important to understand and align their schedule accordingly. 3. Self-Discipline: Self-discipline is the third on the list, improving your skills using MOOC requires self-discipline. The lay-man definition of self-discipline is the ability to differentiate between the time of fun and the time to be the focus and serious. Self-discipline is what drives and keeps you going whenever you feel like opting out. As indicated above, very few people complete their online courses as these courses are FREE. Discipline yourself and complete the course while getting the required skills. 4. Access to Internet: As MOOC implies, it an online course that requires going into the web in order to improve your skills, so to improve your skills using MOOC, you must have access to the web. This makes it easier and faster to acquire the required skills in a very minimal period. 5. Dedicated Time: Time is the inevitable progression into the future with the passing of present event into the past, this is what every individual knows, time is inevitable, and so you have to make a very efficient use of your time to avoid wasting time on the skills you want to acquire. The above listed are some of the factors that can help increase your skills using MOOC. Advantages of getting Better Skills: Getting better skills can also help in many aspects of the labor market, especially in your current position; some of which are: • It can help increase your chance of getting better jobs in better organization. • Getting better skills can give you ahead of your co-workers. • Getting better skills also solidify the boss-staff relationship, as your boss will never want to leave you for another company. • Personal growth is also one of the benefits of getting better skills. • It also increases career development skills, undertaking further training, a better career is assured.