Online learning is becoming a new normal in these times and we must choose our courses carefully. Coursera is an online learning platform that offers Massive open online courses (MOOCs) from many renowned universities such as Yale, Harvard, Columbia, etc. It has around 50 million users worldwide and 4 million users in India.
The courses can improve your knowledge about subjects such as politics or economics and can also teach you many employable skills. The different universities offer courses in all the major disciplines You are required to give exams, do readings, clear quizzes, and submit projects to complete a course.
Many reputed Indian Universities also have ties with Coursera that make Coursera free for their students. Coursera does offer free courses however you are required to pay for the course if you need a certificate. In this article, we will see the 7 best reasons as to why any college student should take a MOOC.
Skill Development
Skill Development here means both professional skills and interpersonal skills. Courses on Coursera can teach you many hard skills that can be highly useful for your employment. Some courses will teach you hard skills such as Machine learning, Project Management, Six-Sigma, Web-Development, etc. Then, some courses will assist you with inter-personal skills such as communication, presentation, collaboration, etc. Having both of these skills are crucially important in current times for you to get your desired job.
Affordable
At first glance, the courses may seem expensive. However, if you look at the quality of the courses and reputed university that offers. The payment can range from $30 to $100 for different classes and courses. Coursera also provides monthly subscription. Coursera offers many specializations as well for monthly payments. The specializations courses offered for working professionals can be as expensive as $2000.
Coursera also has a financial aid model that will assist you with your expenses if you can’t afford to pay for the course. If they conclude, that your reason is genuine. You may get many premium courses for free.
Top-Notch Quality
Top-Notch Quality of courses means that the faculty that offers the courses is top-notch. The very fact that you can do a course sitting at your home from a Yale professor or a Harvard professor is simply amazing.
Learning the same skills from youtube or any other platform and learning from a professor with P.hd. Coursera is very different. Apart from that, it regularly checks your progress through quizzes, projects, or exams. You know how much you have progressed.
You may get access to books and resources that you couldn’t have got otherwise.
Learn at Your Own Pace
The beauty of online courses is that you can choose to learn at your own pace. You can always reset deadlines on your Coursera courses. You can re-watch a lecture as many times as you want. The learning hours are highly flexible and you can progress at your own pace.
You are also allowed to take quizzes multiple times if you do pass on the first attempt. You can work on your shortcomings and take your own time coming up with the solutions. Learning at your own pace does not just mean that you can study whenever you want, it also happens you can complete the assessment many times .
Certifications
The question that many people have in mind is how useful Coursera certifications are? or is it worth paying for a Coursera certificate?.
The skills that you can get from this MOOCs are useful, so that is the primary reason to take a MOOC.
You can put the skills on your resume and also on your Linkedin profile that will enhance your profile and make you more appealing to potential employers. Many employers value Coursera certificates.
Coursera certificates can become more valuable as the remote-working model is becoming increasingly popular.
Interactive platforms
Every Coursera course has discussion forums. The discussion forum will connect with other people pursuing the same course. You can create a great network with such forums and interactive platforms. Many assignments on Coursera are peer-reviewed meaning that other students enrolled in the course will check your assignment and give you feedback and grades.
So, Coursera encourages interactions in various ways and makes you a part of a bigger community. You can also join Discord, Facebook, Whatsapp, and other social media communities to connect with other students.
Broadened Mindset
You can expand your mindset and learn about many interesting things that may not always be useful to get into your job, but it expands your mindset about the world. You can take courses in Political Science, History, Literature, Philosophy, Sociology, Visual Arts, Humanities, social sciences, and any other interesting subject that you always wanted to study.
Such courses will make you more knowledgable about society, social issues, and the history of the world. Your knowledge horizon can expand considerably.
Also read: Top 7 Universities in France to pursue economics.
