Proactive Adaptability: Online Learning and MOOCs - Where to start?

Embrace the maze and mess and multifaceted realm of online study that WILL continue to change and that WILL continue to be recognised by employers, educators and new students.

I have been studying online since October, 2013 and after taking part in close to fifty MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and various other online resources I can safely say that the best place to dive into this realm of collected knowledge is...

.. anywhere.

That is the simple answer.

There is no point even attempting to provide yourself with an overview before embracing the online learning arena because new MOOCs are being launched weekly and the parameters of this revolution (and it really is a revolution) continue to expand and change.

Therefore, this blog post is not an overview, it is an approach to getting started.

In a nutshell - just dive in and find your way as you go.

The importance of nurturing proactive adaptability through your studies in order to attain career fulfilment

The first MOOC I undertook was The Future of Storytelling which was recommended to me by one of my tutors shortly after I graduated from university. 

An online course that dealt with how storytelling is changing in relation to the introduction of new technologies in many ways picked up where my studies at university  in Creative Writing with Film and Screen Studies had left off and, therefore, was a very good place for me to begin my online learning odyssey.

My very first Statement of Accomplishment.

However, even if I was familiar with some of the foundation knowledge, the actual experience of sitting in front of my computer, taking notes from video lectures, participating in discussion forums and submitting electronic exams was a completely new experience for me.

And it took a great deal of adjustment, but the best way to become accustomed to this type of experience is to just stick with it, which is exactly what I did. I just stuck with it, completed The Future of Storytelling, undertook another MOOC, completed it, undertook another, so on and so forth...

Now learning online is just the norm for me.

Moreover, through the course of this persistence, I have acquired an invaluable skill that a structured course of study would be hard pressed to teach and install within its students.

This skill I refer to as proactive adaptability.

The ability to positively embrace change and quickly re-adjust yourself to the introduction of new parameters and processes. 

If you are studying for career advancement with the aim of gaining job security then I promise you that proactive adaptability is a skill that will serve you very well in the long run.

Those safe little careers of yesteryear that would hold your hand until you were 65 are all going to a land far, far away to live happily ever after... without you.

Job-hopping is becoming the new career norm simply because it is more cost effective to hire short-term and acquire expertise on an assignment-by-assignment basis.

And successful job-hopping requires proactive adaptability. 

Job-hopping is the new career security and proactive adaptability will ensure that you always have more jobs to hop to. 

Therefore, embrace the maze and mess and multifaceted realm of online study that WILL continue to change and that WILL continue to be more and more so recognised by employers, educators and new students.

It's still early days for online education, but, be under no illusion, it is not going anywhere and it is a disruption that enables anyone with an internet connection to gain entry to knowledge and expertise that would have once cost them thousands and thousands of pounds.

I gave up undertaking a £6000 masters course simply because I had covered the masters' curriculum within many of the MOOCs I had undertaken.

I do not have a masters degree, but I have the knowledge and a proactive adaptability that only cost be some time and persistence.

And considering how much undervalued degrees have become with employers and in general, possessing the knowledge and proactive adaptability in regards to my career focus (in my case entrepreneurship) is worth much more than possessing a masters degree that would have just put me into additional debt.

Do not write off online learning, because it really is worth it! 

Anywhere is too much - My advice on where to start

Firstly...

Sign up to the free self-paced course:

Learning how to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects

In short this course will benefit you even outside of online learning as it teaches you various invaluable techniques on how to break down vast arrays of knowledge as well as how to ensure that you retain that information. 

Learning how to Learn - trailer

You know all those supposed techniques of learning you had hammered into you at school - delete them!

Learning how to Learn teaches you how to learn the smart way and it is all drawn from the latest neuroscience research being conducted into learning and memory, so you will be in the hands of educators who know what they are talking about.

Therefore buy yourself a notebook and take plenty of notes, but rewrite the lecture points out in your own words, as your brain will much more likely to retain the information - this was a tip I acquired from the course, so it obviously works!

I only wish I had undertaken this course BEFORE I undertook the many other courses I have undertaken. 

Oh, well, you live and learn - that is the point of proactive adaptability.


Secondly...

Find your own way, sign up to MOOCs based on what your projected career focus is or just what are your general interests.

MOOCs Addicts is a good facebook group to join if you have question, want some guidance or need some MOOC suggestions.

Or just type "your interests/focus MOOC" into google and see what comes up.

Finally...

While they are not the only MOOC hosting platforms out there, the following list indicates some very good platforms to begin with... 

Coursera

Offers free and signature track paid courses with Statement of Accomplishments issued on the successful completion of most free courses and Verified Certificates issued on the successful completion of all paid signature track courses.

Open 2 Study

Offers exclusively free courses that come with Certificates of Achievement on the successful completion of a course.

FutureLearn

Offers free courses, with new courses being added monthly, and a Statement of Participation can be purchased on the successful completion of a course.

edX

Offers free courses that issue Statements of Participation on the successful completion of a course; with the option to pay for a verified route of study that will issue you a verified Statement of Accomplishment on the successful completion of a course.

MIT OpenCourseWare

One of the first online learning platforms. This platform has all of the earning materials for its paid degree courses freely available to access, but no statements of completion. This platform relies much more on a proactive learning habit, as there is less direction in regards to how to absorb all of the materials; it really is just a case of getting stuck in and finding your own way.

Alison + Udemy + Saylor

No idea, as I have not used them yet, but I keep reading good things about them, so what I would say is exercise a bit of proactive adaptability and find out for yourself.

Podcasts + YouTube

Do not underestimate these platforms, as they give you access to ever expanding knowledge. 

Listening to over one hundred different podcast shows and well over four thousand hours of content has completely reconfigured my world-job-personal-everything-view... but that is a whole other blog post.


My approach

Start with Learning how to Learn.

Really invest your time and attention to gaining the most out of completing it.

Then sign up to another MOOC that is concerned with your area(s) of interest or career focus(es) and then just take things from there.

If it does not quite work, just try something else.

That's the great thing about online content, there's always additional stuff out there.

Ultimately, all of this ever expanding and (mostly) free education content - you would have to be stark raving mad not to exploit it.

So get proactive and adapt!

Building, crediting and utilising your learning

On building...

While I have undertaken somewhere in the region of fifty online courses, I am not suggesting that you do the same, unless you want to.

Only study as much or as little as you think is necessary and/or your MOOCs/studies indicate you should, but this is where online learning really comes into its own, because it offers you the opportunity to build your own program of study... a program that others can guide you on, but ultimately only you can figure out how much or little you need to cover.

The reason I have undertaken so many is because I have been pro-actively building my own program of study to satisfy the areas of knowledge I know I need to acquire if I want to achieve success as an entrepreneur - as my current specialization in entrepreneurship should demonstrate - based around the business practice of my multi-faceted focus. 

Creative Writing with Film and Screen Studies was the degree I studied at university and while it served as a hugely invaluable exploration of two areas I feel very passionate about - writing and film - there other areas of fascination it could not cover.

If you look at my list of studies on this blog and the various MOOCs I have undertaken, you will begin to see that my focus stretches far beyond film and writing into areas as diverse as neuroscience, entrepreneurship, anthropology, web science, big data, negotiation, conflict resolution, branding, e-learning, psychology, language learning, research methods, human nutrition, leadership, human rights, cyber security, management practice, health and wellbeing.

I have a transdisciplinary focus which is to say that I have my feet in many different waters of knowledge, precisely because they fascinate and precisely because I know somewhere in all of oceans of knowledge there is a business idea for my entrepreneurial focus.

A business idea I have been developing directly as a result of having undertaking all of these MOOCs that have been exercising my understanding in all these diverse areas.

For me, this is why MOOCs and online learning are so invaluable; a taught degree program I have always found to be way too constrictive (and very much out of date), so it was only logical after graduating from my degree I would build my own program of study to expand its focus even more so. 

This is also why I want to work for myself, because I have yet to find a job that would allow me to satisfy all of these areas. Therefore, like my education, I have to build my own one.

Admittedly, it grew far beyond what I initially anticipated, but that growth was just a natural part of the proactive adaptability have been refining. 

The point is, going into it with my first MOOC The Future of Storytelling, I did not know what was going to follow after it, I just completed it moved onto the next MOOC E-Learning and Digital Cultures 

There is still plenty more I would like to study, but for the time being my actual entrepreneurial practice is the focus; as it is being nurtured in my ongoing entrepreneurship specialization, something that is finally acknowledging all of the studying I have done for the past year-and-a-half.

On crediting...

What's the difference between a taught degree and a MOOC?

Credit.

When you undertake a degree or any university course on the successful completion of the courses various modules you acquire credits points. Basically, you need to acquire enough credit in order to actually be awarded your degree.

With MOOCs they do not (yet) award credit, so all of the MOOCs I have undertaken have not been building towards being awarded a master's degree; in fact, if they had I would probably already be well past a master's degree.

Anyhow, that is the major difference between the two: with one you accumulate credit that demonstrates you did all of the studies and with the other (if you successfully complete the course and if it awards one) you receive a statement of accomplishment that demonstrates you did all of the studies. 

Basically, credit costs a lot more than knowledge, you now, that silly little thing you can actually do something with - I know which one I would rather have!

What's more employers more and more so really do not care about the credit side of things; all they want is someone who knows the knowledge and can put that knowledge into successful action. 

Therefore, a Statement of Accomplishment can easily hold just as much weight; a collection of them can really put a credited degree in its place!

Everyone else keeps telling me how it will not work, but that's okay, they can worry for me. I do not have time to worry, I have work to do.

A 

However, if you do complete an online course while you will have the knowledge, you may not necessarily attain a completion certificate: either because you did not finish the course in time or because the course does not actually award them

A record of your accomplishments

and this platform is one way in which I am utilizing my online learning.

On utilising...

A little and very annoyingly common story in today's world... 

Not long after gradating I sat for an interview at a creative agency, I told the interviewer all about my First-Class degree and the fact that BOTH of my final dissertations had received the highest marks of their modules. 

The interviewer did not care. 

It was only when I explained that my high marks should demonstrate to him just how much time, hard work and persistence I had put into my creative endeavours that he started to show a real interest in me.  

The moral of the story: degrees count for very little today, employers want proactive, adaptive, hard workers who can demonstrate all of that knowledge and experience in a portfolio of work, either generated from previous work experience or from within an education environment.

I am cutting back, because I have had a solid year of studying and I am having a year of putting those studies into action.

That need is reflected in my choice of MOOCs 

Not only could I use MOOCs for my professional career focused development, but I could also utilise them for my personal development as an individual (again something that a traditional degree course is hard press to teach).

Hopefully by now I have established the inherent need to be proactive when it comes to successful online learning. 

That's the great thing about online learning it really is about building your own program of study and taking charge of your ideal career. 

And it's (mostly) free - you would have to be a stark raving mad not to exploit it.

So get proactive and adapt!

The First Step in Entrepreneurship - Passed with DISTINCTION

This first achievement in my Entrepreneurship Specialisation goes some way in bringing together all of the other studies and research in entrepreneurship I have been undertaking since mid-2013. It's been a long road - with still more to go - but I am finally starting to reap the rewards of my persistence.

Coursera have now issued my certificate for Developing Innovative Ideas for New Companies: The First Step in Entrepreneurship, a MOOC that I started studying in December, 2014 and then officially completed last month.

This is the first course in my online Entrepreneurship Specialisation and I have passed it's first instalment with a distinction!

My First Step in Entrepreneurship signature track certificate and course participation details can viewed by clicking on this link.

This specialisation is one component of a number of self-directed pursuits that are making up for the masters degree in Creative Technologies and Enterprise I ultimately decided not to undertake, for a number of reasons. 

For more on my transdisciplinary creative enterprising focus and/or my reasons for not undertaking my master degree...

• Headspace for Neuroscience... or not: Dealing with Multiple Focuses, Burnout and Information Overload

• No free lunch from me: Creative Technologies and Enterprise MSc - Withdrawal

Ultimately, this first achievement in my Entrepreneurship Specialisation goes some way in bringing together all of the other studies and research in entrepreneurship I have been undertaking since mid-2013. It's been a long road - with still more to go - but I am finally starting to reap the rewards of my persistence.

Now I just need to officially complete the next two MOOCs in the specialisation - Innovation for Entrepreneurs and Funding for Entrepreneurs - so as to be able to participate in the final portfolio capstone MOOC that will bring my whole specialisation, hopefully, to a successful conclusion.

In this video I discuss my approach to studying and completing the specialisation.

One down, three to go...

The Language of Hollywood: Storytelling, Sound and Colour - MOOC Review & Reflection

A very insightful free online course that uses some less known film examples to explore the evolving aesthetics and technologies of hollywood filmmaking. Ultimately, the entire course acts as a widely accessible overview and introduction to the study of hollywood cinema.

I recently undertook and have now completed The Language of Hollywood: Storytelling, Sound and Color MOOC as hosted on Coursera. 

My Statement of Accomplishment.

In the video below I reflect on my experience of undertaking the MOOC and discuss what I ultimately gained from that experience...

365 FRAMES 2015: Day 081 - 22/03/2015

Overall, a very insightful free online course that uses some less known film examples to explore the evolving aesthetics and technologies of hollywood filmmaking. Ultimately, the entire course acts as a widely accessible overview and introduction to the study of hollywood cinema.

The Language of Hollywood - MOOC trailer.

You can sign up for the next session on the Coursera course page.