Comparative analysis of massive Open online course (MOOC) platforms in English language teaching

Abstract

Currently, one of the most important tools in gaining knowledge for students is Massive open online platforms and courses (MOOC). It is a complete course for learners covering all areas of education, where massive open online platforms and courses are organized online by the internet. In order to determine significance of online course on the discipline “Academic writing” taught in higher educational institutions for bachelor, master and doctorial students, in the article was carried out content analysis of the courses prepared and offered by MOOC platforms about this discipline. During the research, review was conducted to MOOC platforms as Coursera, edX, Futurelearn, Openkaznu.kz and Udemy. There were considered the content of the prepared courses in the discipline “Academic writing”, expected results, duration of video lesson, form of final exam, downloading of full course, the evaluation policy and types of feedback of these platforms. The purpose of the research work is to summarize, classify the offered MOOC courses, analyze their content, identify similarities and differences, and recommend the best prepared course of “Academic writing” to students of higher educational institutions. As a result of the analysis, the course of Coursera platform “Writing in the Science” shows the highest percentage in terms of content. While doing research, there were identified strengths, weaknesses, and shortcomings of the course “Academic writing: the structure of research paper” prepared by Openkaznu.kz MOOC platform of Al-Farabi Kazakh National university and content was studied in comparison with courses prepared by other worldwide universities. There can be seen similarities between courses of Futurelearn, edX and Openkaznu.kz in terms of contents. In conclusion, these offered courses can be useful in preventing some of the difficulties that young scientists and doctoral students face in the process of writing scientific articles.

Key words: MOOC, platforms, course structure, academic writing course, teaching English.