Future Outlook

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are going through a metamorphosis. Where the selling point was once free education, the focus has shifted to certification. While platforms such as Udacity and Coursera still offer some courses for students to audit, the nature of being for-profit organizations means that this shift to a profit-earning business model is inevitable.

With the sale of Lynda.com to LinkedIn, it can be concluded that e-learning is seen as valuable to employers. This forges e-learning as an even stronger link which serves to bridge the gap that currently exist between some post-secondary education and the skills required in the workplace.

On this note, a secondary but equally important trend that is surfacing for all three of the companies is the role they are starting to adopt to actively connect job seekers with potential employers by grouping and gearing courses to specific jobs or even working with specific employers to develop courses to train potential employees. In this way, companies save on the massive cost associated with training a new employee, while students gain a new skill and are given a rare opportunity to showcase their skills to potential employers. This is a win-win situation that may proof the beginning of a revolution in corporate training and cement the role that e-learning has in our lives.