Micro courses as the new standard for Open edX® online learning

Previously, Open edX analysis of different MOOC providers would show a huge problem – low completion rates, as only around 5-10% of the students that enrolled for courses actually received the certificates of completion. The most widespread reason for such low completion rate is the course longevity, overall course length being up to 4-6 weeks sometimes. Many students can’t devote that much time to online learning in one go. Most of the courses are built according to academic rules, where theoretical parts are followed by practical tasks and intense testing. In the end, many courses end up covering just too much material, so that students eventually lose their interest in finishing the course and drop out.

Quite contrary, students need short courses, where brief theoretical part is followed with intense practice, so they can use their freshly-gained knowledge and skills to master the topic they need for their career growth or solving the point of need task they face. Such courses are now available at Open edX platform. Fast-paced micro courses fit the tempo of modern life best, as you can gain some important skills in less than a day, which is very appealing to millennials and fast-learning professionals.

4 Benefits of micro courses

Micro courses are useful edX solutions that grant students with a possibility to gain exactly the knowledge they are looking for. This content is basically the standard eLearning courses divided into short, usually no more than 4-8 hours long sprints. They combine rather small theoretical parts with lots of practice, so that students get exactly the help they need to fulfill a certain task. Here is the list of 4 advantages of Open edX micro courses:

1. Short theoretical parts (5-10 minute-long videos) or texts one can easily read in 5-10 minutes. Students can watch or read them while they commute or anytime they have some spare time.
2. Lots of detailed examples and exercises, meaning that students can practice their new knowledge and skills at once.
3. Staying focused and on point instead of covering a huge range of subjects, means that your students will get exactly the knowledge they need, which will improve UX and completion rates should be high.
4. Possibility to connect a chat bot for Open edX to your courses on the Raccoon University platform, resulting in eLearning gamification and greatly improving ease and accessibility of the material.

Here is an example of how micro-courses work. It is humorous, as it was created only with intention to show the mechanics. All the facts on raccoons are true though, as we are serious on providing trustworthy content only.

Adding a bot as student’s vis-a-vis turns eLearning process into a conversation. Student no longer is a passive listener. Instead, he becomes an active participant of the dialog and eLearning transforms into chatting, which is much more appealing to millennials and youth. Detailed instructions on setting up a chat bot and connecting it to the Raccoon Gang platform are provided in the article on our blog.

What’s your point of view on micro-courses for Open edX? Do you have any experience with them yet? Are you keen to try it? Share your questions and thoughts in the comments below!