Australian Financial Review | 5 October 2012
Australia’s first university subject to be offered online for free as a massive open online course, or MOOC, the University of NSW Computing I course, has attracted 2300 enrolees.
Nearly 70% of enrolees are from Australia, with 7% from the US and 3% from each of the UK and India.
Adam Brimo, chief executive of Open Learning which delivers the course, said that the people who had enrolled in the course were interacting very well.
People who have never met in real life are helping each other out.
The course is the first major test of Open Learning’s upgraded online learning software, which integrates social networking to create an online community. Students can ask each other questions, collaborate on study notes and form their own study groups.
The course includes programming activities and assignments and is at the same level as the UNSW first-year computing course. It does not offer credit towards a university degree but it is expected to spark interest in UNSW computing courses.
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