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Massive open online courses (MOOCs) offer an incredible value for enterprises looking to increase skills and knowledge within their workforce. What began in the realm of academia has evolved into a powerful platform for enterprise training, continuing education and professional development.
The IT industry evolves at a break-neck pace, and organizations that aren't committed to ongoing learning and education are at a distinct competitive disadvantage. But spending thousands -- even millions - to send IT workers to lengthy training classes or even back to college for additional degrees just isn't cost-effective or practical.
"MOOCs and online learning are addressing three of the biggest obstacles to learning in the enterprise: the cost, inevitable technology obsolescence and accessibility," says Ryan Corey, co-founder of online enterprise learning platform Cybrary.
Inside the cost of training
The cost of sending an employee or employees to complete training is one of the biggest prohibitive factors to continuing education in the workplace. N2Grate, a technology solutions provider for the U.S. government with a staff of about 30, was spending approximately $2,500 per employee for a week of training, plus travel expenses, averaging $7,000-$10,000 per year per employee, before finding Cybrary, Corey says...
Technology obsolescence
MOOCs are also better equipped to provide bleeding-edge technology topics and training than traditional approaches, which are often based on outdated curriculum.
"For the money, it's so impractical for enterprises to pay for a class now knowing with absolute certainty that 12 months from now the technology will be completely different," Corey says.
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Source: CIO
