This week it is Staff Blog week here at Webanywhere, so each day we will be sharing with you a new blog post from one of our employees. Today it’s our Marketing Manager, Stephanie Girard talking about when she completed her first MOOC, what she’s learnt from it and why she’s encouraging everyone else to take part.

I have just completed a free MOOC* on “Copywriting for the web” from the Open University of Australia and I would really recommend everyone else to join MOOCs for their e-Learning.
We are all different in the way we learn and engage. Personally, I struggle to concentrate on videos that go on and on without giving me the opportunity to interact. To be honest, I’d rather read the transcript.
This 4-week MOOC was well presented and very engaging. Following the trend of microlearning**, each topic was no more than 8 minutes with a one-question quiz at the end of each topic and an assessment at the end of each module in the form of 10 multiple-choice questions. A 5 to 10 minute video with a quiz at the end, really worked for me.
As you would expect from a MOOC, social learning was also a big part of the experience with the ability to share on social media, post in the different forums and enhance the learning by contributing with other material.
The attribution of digital badges*** for sharing, blogging and passing assessments was also fun and I guess, a good example of the Gamification of Learning. I have also received a certificate which proves that I have completed the course. Even though it doesn’t give me official credits, it can and will go in my “CDP file”.
Back to the course itself, it was full of tips and techniques about writing content for the web and I have definitely learnt a lot. It has given me the incentive to learn more and I have now joined a MOOC on User Experience for the web.
Stephanie Girard
*MOOC – Massive Open Online Course
**Microlearning is a way of teaching and delivering content to learners in small, very specific bursts. The learners are in control of what and when they’re learning.
*** Digital badges are a validated indicator of accomplishment, skill, quality or interest that can be earned in various learning environments.