Hello mates,

Today i want to talk a bit about MOOCs just in case you are not aware of it please do a google for some basic concepts. We are all grownup professionals so I hope to be able to keep a high level of intellectual debate here among us all.

One of the questions that I have asked myself is how does an MBA really help to advance ones' career and in what circumstances an MBA is really a killer app to take you into high paying career fields.

A little bit about myself I graduated from the UK with a degree in IT and top it up with another master in Information system covering the overlapping role of IT and business. I am now managing the IT portfolio for a bank in South East Asia.

Probably IT is not a typical degree because it has a very nice blend of technical knowledge and business acumen. IT is a lot about analytical, critical and logical thinking, processing thinking. Working with clients mean you gotta understand basic business concepts and ideas.

So for a while, I flirt with the idea of doing an MBA and have gone through all the hard works of preparing for one. It is tough I have to admit. Yet career progression and training courses and certificates either drain me out or distract me from the goal of achieving an education I dream of an MBA a period where you can really dive deep into different business concepts and reflect who you want to be.

Recently though the advance of MOOCs provided me an ample opportunity to learn many different courses and skills that can only be earned during an MBA. Many courses are taught by top professors by top schools who promised that the education they offer is comparable to those in real class room where you pay 60k per year for the tuition. And yes top it up with living costs and lost of salary.

I have found myself to be a lot more aware of business. Over the last couple of years a lot of courses have been added to MOOCs and while the education wont be a complete MBA I believe many courses are at a very high intellectual level that can surpass unaccredited yet legitimate MBAs

Furthermore the level of huge crowd brain means no single school can offer so much expertise in so many areas. You can refine your critical thinking skills by applying to a few logic courses at Stanford or Duke. If you want to learn about energy there are 2 or 3 top professors teaching almost the same content at the same time and you can take them all.

So except from acting as a pipeline to investment banks and consultancy houses and of course the stimulating study in environment on campus if you are no interested in those high paying jobs and want to advance yourself in your own firms or chose career path, I believe MOOC is comparable to an MBA

What do you think please share your thinking and who you are

A lot to think about. What about the points that have been discussed elsewhere: that MOOCs don't have the same level of personal interaction as MBA programs, and that they don't help you build leadership and other, softer skills?

I openly admit that the campus experience will be different but again we could over-value campus experience e.g. personal interaction or networking.

I believe however people who sign up for MOOC will mostly still keep their jobs so still can leverage their existing network

Leadership will be earned on the job rather than on short interns and projects while softer skills will be applied in corporate world instead of case study and class room

dont seem to bad to me

In most big organizations, a reputable MBA is what will unlock you the access to interviews. A MOOC MBA is nice and can be academically interesting but it will never provide you with the same career opportunities.

True, the career support isn't there. But I think that they're great for exposing people to concepts that they wouldn't normally be confronted with, that you could use to move forward in your current job. I guess it ultimately depends on each student's goals and expectations.

Libraries are just as good. There is, of course, no MOOC MBA anymore than there is a library MBA. Bookshops and MOOCs do not issue degrees.

No, you're right - neither a MOOC nor a library will issue you an MBA. But they aren't really exactly the same - you can walk into a library and nobody's going to tell you what to do in order to learn specific things. MOOCs (if they're good) provide a structured framework for approaching specific learning.

There are textbooks in the library. You could get a reading list from the Open Courseware website and work through textbooks. Either way, there's no such thing as MOOC MBA.

Decent MBAs are accredited, recognised and understood by employers, MOOC learning is not...yet.

MBAs add a network and opportunities to develop 'soft' skills, MOOCs do not.

Each has their place, but I disagree with the OP that they are comparable.

What kind of course i can take. Poissible take any other course apart from MBA.

Why are you cutting and pasting from other peoples' websites? http://news.yahoo.com/moocs-change-higher-education-better-220400775.html