France is Developinig its MOOCS

CHICAGO - Oct. 23, 2014 - PRLog -- Last January, the French Minister of National Education, Higher Education and Research launched the France université numérique (FUN) (France Digital University) platform to group together and structure the various initiatives which have already been put in place and to allow French MOOCs to be accessed more easily and efficiently. They are known as ’Massive’ because they can accommodate an unlimited number of participants. They are open to anyone with an Internet connection, regardless of age, nationality, or level of education. All classes, homework, documents and tests are available online. Finally, it is not just a catalogue of information, but properly structured courses with an educational progression developed and supervised by lecturers.

From the start of this initiative, one thing has been clear: new technologies have made a hugeimpact on social behaviours and learning methods. For members of the famous "Generation Y",born after the digital revolution, the network is more than a working tool - it is a way of life andthus naturally a channel for intellectual development. Exchanging opinions across borders andcomparing points of view is no longer a dream but a daily occurrence which is just a few clicksaway. Despite their illustrious history (debates were already taking place in the Sorbonne backwhen Christopher Columbus discovered America), French higher education institutions werequick to realize the importance of this new arena for knowledge sharing.

FUN, the French network

MOOCs, which were launched in 2011, include videos, texts, online interaction with lecturers,tutoring, and exchanges with other students via discussion forums, self-assessments andcertifications. Some have up to 160,000 students from around the world, who otherwise could in no way have had access to French higher education. The FUN platform now groups together major domains such as a virtual university with several departments: environment, management, digital and technology, legal, international relations, health, science, human and social sciences. There are currently over 30 different MOOCs available on the French platform. Social networks are also channels for education via Twitter and Facebook. Relations and exchanges thus take place equally via the class platform and social networks.

On the front line of MOOCs revolution – Vodeclic

Vodeclic is a Cloud-based training company for desktop software, web apps, and Cloud services. They provide an online training solution designed to help users enhance their digital, internet, and collaborative skills. The solution features exclusive courses and learning tools for all users, as well as business analytics and APIs for enterprise customers.

With over 1.1 million users worldwide, this innovative French company offers theirs courses in six languages including English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Chinese. The versatility of the courses and languages offered by Vodeclic has allowed to them to have a global success and has enjoyed a 16000% revenue growth in the last five years.

Vodeclic was recently in Chicago for the Online Learning Conference (http://www.onlinelearningconference.com/) last month where President and CEO Xavier Sillon shared his insights and know-how as a key-note speaker during the event.

Vodeclic will once again return state side for Elliott Masies’s Learning Conference that will take place in Orlando on October 26-29. They will appear on session 665: Closing the Digital Skills Gap: Updating Your Employees’Skills in the Fast-Changing World.