On the Use of MOOCs in Companies: A Panorama of Current Practices

MOOCs represent an opportunity for companies to either save money, by asking their employees to follow a free course instead of using paying services, or to freely increase the proportion of workers who benefit from training opportunities. Some companies go beyond providing mere encouragements to follow these online courses. They can set common time slots for employees to collaborate on the course, allow them to follow the MOOC during working hours, discharge them of some tasks, or even reward, to some extent, those who manage to complete the course. In this article, we study these practices through a survey that was answered by 1847 users of Unow, a French platform that used to design MOOCs that targeted companies. It is uncommon for employees to be allowed to follow the course during working hours. MOOCs are typically integrated in an informal way, since they do not fit in the traditional frameworks structuring professional training in companies. It comes at a risk for employees, who may have to negotiate in an interpersonal way in what conditions the course is followed, without the protection of negotiated company agreements.