In the past weeks, I’ve finished my first MOOC. What did I learn? Was it interesting for me? Would I attend another course? I divided this article into three parts, concluding my overall experience.

The form of this MOOC

The form of the MOOC was probably the most problematic part of me. This MOOC was organized into four weeks of work, and each week contained 5-6 short videos and three homework assignments we should work on. It was visible that the course was created a few years ago, and sometimes the videos were not connected directly, or the names of videos in the course structure and the titles in the videos were talking about different things. This all formed a perception that the course was created from other classes that were not connected, and the videos were just glued together.

Contents of this MOOC

This MOOC aimed to show me different ways to enhance and work with my creativity. We learned about the topic through other exercises based on theories like Creative diversity, Bildung, and the Center model. I liked the general overview of this course, but the content was shallow. The concepts were explained in a few minutes, and I would love to have different sources like books and articles to deepen my understanding of the topic. I believe it will be fascinating to ask questions, spend more time with the lectures, and learn more, but the course format was just a tasting of the professors’ in-person courses.

This course still showed me exciting ideas and topics I researched, and the topic is really important.

How to chose the best mooc for me?

Thanks to this experience, I’ve created a set of questions that will help me choose the best possible course.

1. Is the topic specific?
2.  Where will I use the knowledge from this course?
3.  Who is teaching this course? Is it one person or a group?
4.  How recent is the course?

These questions guide me to focus on different aspects of the course so I am only committed to something suitable. I learned that a bigger group of lectures confuses me, and it is harder for me to find connections between the parts of the course. I also learned that I prefer courses with a set base of reachable goals, and I know what to expect.

Studying different MOOCs can bring me a new perspective on this topic, and I am excited to explore that. I just started the UI and UX design course in Figma and will update it soon.