Review Open2Study

[Carolyn]

Thread to discuss MoocLab's review of Open2Study.

 

[Nedzad]

Open2Study, is for 2 best MOOC platfrom, just behind Coursera. I can agree with your review @Carolyn , O2S is lacking number of participants and courses. But providing 49( free) courses is really great.

Sometimes that is bothering me is, that they're quite often using Australia ( I know that they're founded from Australia and based there) too much in course examples. But they're providing free knowledge, so in all they're 8/10.
Dr. Leon is the king
P.S. How to write Review, @Carolyn

 

[Carolyn]

Thanks for your comments @Nedzad
In order to prevent advertising and brand promotion, only admins can submit a review. However, you can submit a request to have a particular platform reviewed if you wish by creating a thread in the relevant review forum http://www.mooclab.club/forums/#review-forums.67

 

[Paul Morris]

Carolyn, I think that your review is rather over-generous. I'd also note that the rating for the number of courses does not actually match your published scale (49 courses should rate 2 stars, not 3).

In particular, the ease of navigation and social interactions are both no more than adequate. The forums are very poorly implemented and lack basic functionality (eg no search). There are very limited instructions for new users and some features of the platform (such as additional readings) seem to pass by most students.

The platform designers have tried to include elements of gamification, such as the use of badges to reward positive behaviours, but these have not seen any apparent development and their effective range is limited to new students (as most badges will be awarded by the time a student has completed one or two courses).

O2S formerly published regular and detailed research but that page was taken down--for improvement--a year ago and has not reappeared (yet). O2S had the highest completion rate of any major platform, regularly approaching 30% compared to an industry average of around 7%, but this showed a decline as their release of new courses dried up. There was also a levelling off of enrolments becoming apparent at the last published report (June 2014) again matching the cessation of new course releases.

O2S does have some advantages:

• the regular presentation schedule means that the next run is never more than 5 weeks away;
• all course materials are available from day one (although assessments are released on a weekly schedule) and remain available after the course ends;
• certificates are free and include a breakdown by module (but the assessments are so easy that far too many students will be seeing straight 100% grades);
• most instructors are good and a few are excellent (although there are no 'star' names or institutions represented);
• the videos are professionally shot and edited in the O2S studios (although this can make the courses rather bland and undifferentiated);
• O2S staff do monitor and respond to queries on the Community forums, if not daily then at least a few times per week

I have completed 30 O2S courses to date (and was in the first tranche awarded the meaningless 'Student Guide' status) and find that, within its niche, Open2Study performs fairly well. However, the site 'could do better' if further developed. I would really rate the site as being worth no more than 3 stars overall.

 

[Carolyn]

Hi Paul,
Thanks for your comments and insights. You clearly have a lot of experience with studying MOOCs across several platforms and your comments are very interesting. The rating I gave O2S is based on conclusions drawn from numerous user comments and feedback, as well as my own unbiased appraisal of the platform. Of course, everyone's experience is different and not everyone will agree with the ratings. This is, however, where MoocLab comes into its own, allowing users to respond to our reviews, sharing their own perceptions and experiences.
Regarding the rating for the number of courses, I awarded O2S 3 stars as they are borderline.

 

[Carolyn]

MoocLab updated Open2Study

Open2Study no longer offers free courses. The site now only offers paid Accredited online courses available via Open Universities Australia.

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