OA22: Connecting MOOCs and Employment through Open Source Projects
Channel: Apereo Foundation
Date: 06/07/2022

Presented by: Charles Severance | Professor / Founder, University of Michigan / Learning Experiences

Session Description: Now that Coursera and other MOOC platforms are almost a decade old (Coursera was founded in 2012), it seems as though we have greatly expanded the opportunities for high quality education irrespective of the location or means of the student. As an example, Dr. Chuck's Python for Everybody has graduated over a million new Python programmers. Some students who complete their education using MOOCs end up getting a job - often as a successful career pivot. However it is more challenging for someone in their early 20's to parlay a MOOC-based education into that all-important first job. For students enrolled in traditional higher education, they have access to career counseling, internships, and an alumni network that eases the transition from education to employment. So far we have no solution to this problem that scales and is independent of the location and means of the student. This presentation will explore how Open Source projects might just be the perfect place to fill this gap for students around the world.