Context Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have recently become widespread in medical education, providing access to learning material to thousands of students and health professionals. While their use in higher education is still being debated, many think that MOOCs have nonetheless changed medical education and are here to stay. In just a few years, the range and scope of available MOOCs has evolved rapidly. Purpose Our study aims to review health and medical MOOCs offered on major platforms since their introduction into higher education. Method Out of 259 courses identified in Coursera, EdX, FUN and FutureLearn, 245 were deemed eligible for our review. MOOCs were analyzed according to platform used, institution of origin, content, language, target audience, duration, effort commitment and learning approach. Results Coursera offers the most health and medical MOOCs, followed by FutureLearn, EdX and FUN. MOOCs are predominantly taught in English given that they are hosted mostly by American universities. Public health, specialised care, basic and clinical sciences are the major areas covered by MOOCs while only a few offers teaching skills content. Most MOOCs last 6 weeks but British institutions are now creating shorter courses. A majority of MOOCs target the general public and require a weekly commitment by students of 1 to 3 hours. Very few MOOCs make use of an active learning approach. Even though MOOCs are still free, participants are increasingly asked to pay a fee to get a certificate. Conclusion Our review identify major topics and trends in health and medical MOOCs.

1. Health and medical MOOCs :
A review of courses offered by major platforms
Gabriel Dumouchel
Stéphanie Raymond-Carrier
Bernard Bérubé
Nathalie Caire Fon
#CCME17

2. DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
The CPASS is piloting a MOOC
in English on the
Clinical Reasoning Process
that starts today! 

3. CONTEXT

4. 4
Online courses with
hundreds/thousands
of learners from
around the world

For
Free
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC)
With a large
variety of subjects
offered by many
platforms
• Most learners participate in MOOC for continuous education
• 75% of MOOC learners work full time Gardair C, Bousquet G, Lehmann-Che J, de Bazelaire C, de
Cremoux P, Tran Van Nhieu J, ... Bertheau P. Les coulisses d’un
Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) sur le diagnostic des
cancers. Annales de Pathologie 2016;36(5):305-311.

5. 5
Health and medical MOOCs in 2013
Platforms
Coursera (58%)
edX (5%)
FutureLearn (1%)
FUN (0%)
Leading
Languages
English (94%)
Spanish (4%)
Arabic (1%)
Chinese (1%)
Leading institutions
John-Hopkins
University (n=12)
University of
California (n=9)
University of
Pennsylvania (n=7)
Open Universities
Australia (n=6)
Number of
MOOCs
98
Average Duration
6.7 weeks
Time commitment
4.2h per week
Liyanagunawardena TR, Williams SA. Massive Open Online Courses on Health and Medicine: Review. Journal of Medical
Internet Research 2014;16(8):e191.

6. PURPOSE
Our study aims to review health and medical
MOOCs offered on major platforms since
their introduction into higher education
(2012-2016).

7. METHODOLOGY

8. 8
Review of
archived & active
health and medical
MOOCs
May-June 2016
N=259
Analysis by two
MDs
20 MOOCs
discarded
(ex: pharmaceutical
marketing,
healthcare market)
N=239
SPSS
Language
Institution
Discipline
Target audience
Duration
Effort commitment
Learning approach
4 major MOOC
platforms
Coursera
edX
FUN
FutureLearn

9. RESULTS

10. 10
35%
32%
24%
9%
Coursera
FutureLearn
edX
FUN
Platforms offering health and medical MOOCs

11. 11
79.1%
10.5%
5.4%
2.5%
0.8%
0.8%
0.4%
0.4%
0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 60.0% 70.0% 80.0% 90.0% 100.0%
English
French
Chinese
Spanish
Russian
Bilingual
German
Turkish
Teaching languages in MOOCs

12. 12
15
9
9
6
5
5
5
5
5
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
John-Hopkins University
University of Birmingham
Harvard University
Pekin University
University of Copenhagen
University of Michigan
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
King’s College London
St George’s University of London
Institutions offering health and medical MOOCs

13. 13
Health and medical MOOC disciplines uncovered (n=10)
Basic sciences
Care management
Clinical skills
Epidemiology and infection control
Medical education
Medical research
Population health
Technology and health
Therapeutical education
Specific expertises
Examples
Biochemistry, anatomy, physiology
Efficiency and quality of patient care
Communication, empathy, ethics
AIDS, Ebola
Clinical reasoning, teaching
Applied biostatistics
Global healthcare
Technology use in health sciences
Patients participate actively for their own wellbeing
Cancer treatment, falls
Disciplines covered by Health and Medical MOOCs

14. 14
24.69%
21.34%
17.15%
8.37%
6.69%
5.86%
5.86%
4.18%
2.93%
2.93%
0.00% 5.00% 10.00% 15.00% 20.00% 25.00% 30.00%
Specific expertises
Population health
Basic sciences
Clinical skills
Epidemiology and infection control
Care management
Medical education
Medical research
Therapeutical education
Technology and health
Disciplines covered by health and medical MOOCs

15. 15Duration
of MOOCs
Average of
5.8 weeks
5%
7.1%
13.8%
18.0%
26.8%
9.6%
7.5%
2.1%
1.3%
1.3%
1.7%
1.7%
0%
0.40%
3.80%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
2 weeks
3 weeks
4 weeks
5 weeks
6 weeks
7 weeks
8 weeks
9 weeks
10 weeks
11 weeks
12 weeks
13 weeks
14 weeks
15 weeks
N/A

16. 16
4%
2%
25%
3%
33%
2%
20%
7%
1%
2%
0%
1%
0%
1%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%
1h
1.5h
2h
2.5h
3h
3.5h
4h
5h
5.5h
6h
7h
8h
9h
10h
Weekly effort
estimated
for MOOCs
n=113
stated
hours
Mostly
FUN and
FutureLearn

17. 17Weekly effort
estimated
for MOOCs
n=88
stated
intervals of hours
Mostly Coursera
and edX
10%
10%
1%
1%
1%
16%
9%
4%
1%
2%
9%
5%
1%
4%
13%
1%
2%
1%
1%
1%
5%
1%
1%
0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16% 18%
1-2h
1-3h
1-4h
1-6h
1,5-2h
2-3h
2-4h
2-5h
2,5-5h
3-4h
3-5h
3-6h
3,5-5h
4-5h
4-6h
4-7h
5-7h
5-8h
6-10h
6-7h
6-8h
7-14h
8-10h
Total average combined
of 2.5 hours per week

18. 18
63.6%
42.0%
37.7%
9.9%
8.6%
8.0%
8.0%
7.4%
6.8%
5.6%
2.5%
General public
Health professionnals
Students
Graduate students
Medical researchers
Care managers
Patients
Teachers
Caregivers
Family and friends
Volunteers
0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 60.0% 70.0% 80.0% 90.0% 100.0%
Target audiences of MOOCs

19. 19
87.6%
12.4%
Transmissive
Active
Learning strategy of MOOCs
Transmissive
Focus on
quiz and self-evaluation
Active
Focus on peer evaluations,
live discussions, essay writing

20. CONCLUSION

21. 21
Year MOOCs
Leading
Platform
Leading
Language
Leading Institution
Average
Duration
Time
Commitment
2013* 98
Coursera
(58%)
English
(94%)
John-Hopkins University
(n=12)
6.7 weeks 4.2h per week
2012-2016 239
Coursera
(35%)
English
(79%)
John-Hopkins University
(n=15)
5.8 weeks 2.5h per week
*Liyanagunawardena TR, Williams SA.
Massive Open Online Courses on Health
and Medicine: Review. Journal of
Medical Internet Research
2014;16(8):e191.
Health and medical MOOCs
2013 vs 2012-2016

22. 22New data from 2016
Disciplines
covered
#1 #2 #3 #6 ex-aequo
Specific
Expertise
(24,69%)
Population
Health
(21,34%)
Basic Sciences
(17,15%)
Medical
Education
(5,86%)
Target
Audience
#1 #2 #3 #8
General Public
(63,6%)
Health
Professionals
(42,0%)
Students
(37,7%)
Teachers
(7,4%)
Learning
strategy
#1 #2
Transmissive
(87,6%)
Active (12,4%)

23. THANK YOU
@cpass_udem
@gdumouchel
gabriel.dumouchel@umontreal.ca

24. ENROLL NOW!