About the Project
In China, the completion rate of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) is not more than five percent even though most courses offer access to high-quality content. MOOC Academy is designed as a way to strengthen learners’ engagement and interest in the courses. Launched in 2012 by Guokr.com, the best-known social networking site for knowledge dissemination and science communication in China, MOOC Academy is an online community to allow collaborative learning and pedagogical support. Through this online platform, “MOOCers” can share notes, discuss, upload reviews and class materials and help other users to adapt to new ways of learning.
MOOC Academy is a web-based project designed to provide tools and platform for Chinese-speaking learners. Since its inception, the platform has attracted more than 400,000 users, which accounts for more than half of all Chinese MOOC learners. On social media, such as Sina Weibo (the Chinese equivalent of Twitter) and WeChat, MOOC Academy also provides learners with the latest news and trends related to MOOCs and social learning. Its Weibo has attracted more than 220,000 followers.
Thanks to the growing influence of the initiative and years of cooperation with Chinese academic institutions, a number of international MOOC platforms are reaching out to MOOC Academy to explore opportunities for collaboration. MOOC Academy has established strategic partnerships with Coursera, and has also formed different collaborations, such as translation projects, learning hubs, video hosting and single sign-on, with other MOOC providers according to learners’ needs.