In our century, distance learning is actively developing. On the Internet you can find a large number of courses and various schools in various fields. The Open Education project decided to provide additional training for future specialists. You are waiting for courses of various specialties and industries. However, how effective can it be and is everything really absolutely free?
Feedback on the national open education platform is only good. People are engaged, gain knowledge and a lot of pleasant experiences. So what is this wonderful university?
about the project
From the first days of the launch, various social networks and sites filled reviews about the institute of open education. The idea of getting advanced training in a particular issue has attracted many potential students.
The platform was launched by 8 leading universities in Russia. Here they provide free material for study, lectures by famous scientists and professors. All this is processed and provided by the university as a free Internet resource. At the moment, 234 projects are available in different profiles. Any random passerby can register and choose the material suitable for him to study.
First steps
The platform was launched on September 14, 2015. A total of 46 courses were initially presented. Already in that year, about 8,000 people participated in the project. Reviews of Open Education walked on the Internet. The idea attracted attention and began to actively spin. The courses themselves were in a public format and did not require any investments, but if a person wanted to confirm his knowledge with an official document, he had to pass the final exam, which was already paid. But these courses were considered official and could be counted at any university in the Russian Federation.
The budget, which was spent only at the beginning of the university’s work, amounted to 160 million rubles, 20 million from each educational institution. In total, it is planned to invest 400 million rubles. However, the organizers are sure that their idea will pay for itself and will bring considerable profit through paid certificates.
Today, the scale of the organization is growing exponentially. Lessons become interesting not only to other cities, but also to countries. And feedback on Open Education courses confirms the relevance of both knowledge and certificate. At this rate, investment will pay off much earlier than the creators suggest.
Principle of operation
Each project has its own start date and end date. On the main page you can see three search lines: by university, by direction and by status. There are only three statuses:
- “Now on” - courses that have already begun. Not all lessons are available here, as many have already closed the recording.
- “Coming soon” - you can catch it before the first lesson. Choose any, study the start page and sign up.
- “You can sign up” means access to those lecture blocks that are already running, but the record has not yet been removed. If you are ready to study the missing material externally, you can join any of these groups.
Before you make a record, you need to register. Be sure to include your real data here, as they will be in your certificates.
All classes are held on the same principle. You watch lectures, do homework, take the test on the material, then move on to the next section. Some courses have creative assignments. In the end, you can simply complete the training or pass a paid exam and get a document on the passage. Only students with a certain number of points are allowed to the final knowledge test.
The document gives you the opportunity to pass the test at your university, as the certificate is valid and officially certified. It is provided to the teacher during or before the final knowledge test.
You can go through several disciplines at the same time, if there is time for this.
Institutes
Each course is provided by the university that participates in this project. Now you can study at ten different universities in Russia:
- Moscow State University Lomonosov;
- NITU "MISiS";
- MIPT;
- NRU;
- Polytech (St. Petersburg Polytechnic University);
- SPbSU;
- TSU (Tomsk);
- Saint Petersburg State University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics;
- UrFU.
Lectures are conducted by their professors, respectively, all information is verified and of high quality. You are actually present in the audience, only for this you do not need to get up at 7 a.m. and go to the other end of the city. The quality of information is in no way inferior to a university program.
Directions
As we already understood from the estimates and reviews, “Open Education” openedu.ru has a wide range of different directions.
The good news is that you can find information not only on your desired specialty, but also on self-development and self-improvement. For example, the lessons "Personal Effectiveness: Time Management" from NITU MISiS.
In total, 54 different directions are presented on the site, each has its own sections and subsections. These are mainly self-development courses and the basics of certain professions.
Main sections: mathematics, physics and astronomy, chemistry, biology, radio engineering, medicine, architecture and design, psychology, music, economics, philosophy and cultural studies.
In each course you choose, you can track your progress on your own, find out the news, ask questions and write reviews. The open education platform took care not only of the information provided, but also of the comfort of students.
The advantages of such training
Based on feedback on Open Education, the following conclusions can be drawn:
- It does not require any investments. Now education is quite expensive and not everyone can afford it. The platform has created an ideal place for self-development.
- Lectures of qualified specialists. The information that students are given is no different from the information provided in the audience of the university.
- Practicality. No need to go anywhere, adjust the time, etc. Ideal for busy people and introverts.
- Track progress. You not only learn new useful information, but also check how much you have learned it.
- The possibility of advanced training. An official certificate of increasing knowledge in any case will play a role in entering a university or getting a job.
- Big choice. Different areas provide an opportunity to learn more and more people with different abilities. At the same time, the arsenal of distance education is constantly increasing.
- Any student can express their opinion in the section of the course "Discussion". This means that you have the right to write not only about your impressions of the site, but also a specific review of the teacher’s open lesson. Further education leaves you with this right.
Minuses
According to the same reviews about "Open Education", there were also disadvantages of this platform:
- The irresponsible approach of some universities. A person can take two completely different trainings from this site, but one will be compiled in a high-quality manner, the information is presented competently, and the second was created in haste. Why is there such a huge difference? The authors are different universities.
- The possibility of re-writing is in question. There is a theory that you can provide a certificate of attendance and get credit in your educational institution. In practice, the teacher may not accept such a valuable security, which is not an indicator for him. He has every right to do so.
- Reviews about the "Open Education" of some users indicate problems with the site itself. The courses were not loaded and people could not attend lectures and do homework and control tests. However, these are rather special cases, since most students had full access to all materials.
Conclusion
The results of evaluations and feedback on Open Education courses show that this is a rather promising project. There is a huge amount of useful and necessary information for a completely different circle of people. Therefore, the time spent on lessons and tests will not go to waste. Who doesn’t want to attend lectures at Moscow State University or Higher School for free?