Yonsei MOOCs Well Received Internationally and Domestically

-Hundreds of Thousands Have Registered for Online Courses

The Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) taught by Yonsei faculty have proven to be quite popular both within Korea and overseas. Currently, Yonsei offers seven MOOCs through the FutureLearn platform and another two through Coursera. For domestic learners, the university also provides several online Korean courses, or K-MOOCs.

Professor Chang Dae-ryun from the Yonsei School of Business (YSB) is teaching International Marketing in Asia. Tens of thousands of students have registered for the course, which has received very strong evaluations from participants. At the request of a large number of students, Professor Chang is presently organizing a new marketing specialization MOOC with Professor Choi Sun-mee.

Professor Chung Jong-moon of the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering is offering Emerging Technologies: From Smart Phones to IoT to Big Data Specialization. This course has seen more than 90,000 individuals register, and student satisfaction with the MOOC has also been high. In this course, Professor Chung takes students through the newest developments in information technology, focusing on issues related to wireless network communications, the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, and big data. By successfully completing this MOOC, students can receive an official certificate, which many international companies accept for purposes of professional education and training. 

Yonsei was selected as a winner of the “Coursera Specialization Lecture RFP Contest,” which recognizes the quality of MOOCs offered by a university. The award includes funding of 30,000 USD, which is being used to prepare a series of new MOOCs that will be offered in the coming semesters.

First Korean Studies MOOCs Open This Year

In 2016, Yonsei will offer its first Korean Studies MOOCs, which will expose international students to the politics, economics, history, culture, and language of Korea. According to Jeong In-kwon, dean of Academic Affairs: “Yonsei University is leading the diffusion of knowledge and information by affiliating with overseas MOOC platforms and establishing the Open and Smart Education Center,” or OSE. He added: “Yonsei will try to create a big impression internationally through its MOOCs by establishing an educational Korean wave.”

Yonsei is the only university in Korea to offer MOOCs through two different international platforms. Furthermore, Yonsei has been selected as a participating institution in the government’s K-MOOC pilot project, which is sponsored by the Ministry of Education. Between now and 2017, eleven K-MOOCs will be offered through OSE.