As the selection of open online courses grows, learning doesn't end with a degree. The first massive open online course, or MOOC, launched in September 2008 at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. MOOCs quickly took off. The courses aren't quite substitutes for traditional education, but MOOCs can help students build the skills to become almost anything—or anybody. Infographic originally appeared in the September issue of Popular Science magazine.

1. EDX
OPEN2STUDY
UDACITY
ITUNES U
COURSERA
CODECADEMY
KHAN ACADEMY
SAYLOR
UDEMY
207
298
303
389
19
25
1,000+
74+
77
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As the selection of open online courses
grows, learning doesn’t end with a degree
Go/Do/Learn
THE EDUCATION ISSUE
SEPTEMBER 2013 / POPULAR SCIENCE / 53
STORY BY JEFFERSON MOK
52 / POPULAR SCIENCE / SEPTEMBER 2013
AFTERMARKET
EDUCATION
ILLUSTRATION BY BEUTLER INK
he first massive open online course, or
MOOC, launched in September 2008 at the
University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. Via the
Web, anyone could attend the class on learning theory, and
2,300 people signed up. MOOCs quickly took off. In 2011,
a Stanford University class on artificial intelligence enrolled
160,000, inspiring one of the instructors to found the
MOOC start-up Udacity.
The courses aren’t quite substitutes for traditional edu-
cation; at Coursera, one of the largest MOOC providers, 80
percent of students already hold a bachelor’s degree, and
only 10 percent finish the courses they start, according to
co-founder Andrew Ng. But MOOCs can help students build
the skills to become almost anything—or anybody.
T
The clusters represent the number of
courses available through early 2014 at
nine of the largest MOOC providers. Every
course appears as a dot. The clusters for
iTunes U and Udemy—where educators
create their own classes—include only
their most popular courses.
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