How to Earn a World-Class Business Education for Free: The MOOC MBA Guide
The traditional MBA has long been a popular option for professionals seeking to advance their business knowledge and accelerate their careers. But with top programs costing upwards of $200,000 and requiring two years out of the workforce, the degree has remained out of reach for many.
Enter massive open online courses (MOOCs). Over the past decade, the rise of platforms like Coursera, edX, and Udacity has made high-quality learning content accessible to anyone with an internet connection. And nowhere has this trend been more apparent than in business education.
Leading business schools around the world, including Wharton, MIT Sloan, INSEAD, and London Business School, now offer a significant portion of their course catalogs online for free or at low cost. This has opened up the possibility of pursuing the equivalent of an elite MBA education through self-directed study using MOOCs.
The Growth and Impact of MOOCs
The numbers behind the MOOC revolution in education are staggering:
- Over 900 universities have launched more than 13,500 MOOCs, serving 110 million learners (Class Central, 2020)
- In 2019, 110 million learners around the world participated in MOOCs, up from 101 million in 2019 (Class Central, 2020)
- The leading MOOC provider Coursera has over 76 million registered users and over 5,100 courses (Coursera, 2021)
- A study by researchers at MIT and Harvard found that students who took a MOOC scored slightly higher on end-of-course assessments than students who took the same course on campus (Colvin et al., 2014)
MOOCs have made high-quality educational content more accessible and affordable than ever before. And some of the most popular offerings have been in the realm of business.
Business MOOCs by the Numbers
Of the 13,500+ MOOCs identified by Class Central, over 3,300 (24.5%) fall under the category of "Business" (Class Central, 2020). This makes business the most popular MOOC subject, ahead of technology, science, and social sciences.
Within business, some of the most in-demand topics include:
- Entrepreneurship: 500+ courses
- Management: 460+ courses
- Marketing: 375+ courses
- Business Analytics: 200+ courses
- Accounting: 190+ courses
- Finance: 190+ courses
Many of these courses come from highly regarded institutions. For example, here is a sampling of business MOOCs from top-20 global business schools as ranked by US News & World Report:
| School | Example Courses |
|---|---|
| University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) | Entrepreneurship Specialization, Business Analytics Specialization |
| MIT (Sloan) | Entrepreneurship 101-104, Supply Chain Management MicroMasters |
| INSEAD | Marketing Strategy, Corporate Finance |
| London Business School | Negotiation Mastery, The Global Economy |
| University of California Berkeley (Haas) | Blockchain Fundamentals, Mindfulness for Business |
The range and depth of business content available via MOOCs is truly remarkable. An analysis by Class Central found that the offerings from just four top business schools (Wharton, INSEAD, Illinois, and IESE Business School) cover around 70-75% of the core curriculum of a typical MBA program (Pickard, 2019).
Comparing MOOC Offerings with a Typical MBA Curriculum
To further assess the viability of a MOOC MBA, it‘s helpful to directly compare the available online courses with a typical MBA curriculum. Let‘s use the curriculum of the #1-ranked Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania as a benchmark.
The Wharton MBA includes 19 core courses across three categories: Foundations, Leadership, and Analytics (Wharton, 2021). Here‘s how those courses map to available MOOCs from top business schools:
| Wharton MBA Course | Equivalent MOOCs |
|---|---|
| Foundations | |
| Financial Accounting | Introduction to Financial Accounting (Wharton) |
| Microeconomics | Microeconomics (Wharton) |
| Management Communication | Effective Communication Skills (Wharton) |
| Marketing Management | Introduction to Marketing (Wharton) |
| Operations Management | Introduction to Operations Management (Wharton) |
| Leadership | |
| Management | Managing Talent (Michigan) |
| Leading Teams (Michigan) | |
| Leading People & Teams (INSEAD) | |
| Ethics and Responsibility | Business Ethics (Santa Clara) |
| Ethical Leadership (Notre Dame) | |
| Analytics | |
| Business Analytics | Business Analytics Specialization (Wharton) |
| Regression Analysis | Statistics with R Specialization (Duke) |
| Regression Models (Johns Hopkins) | |
| Decision-Making and Scenarios | Effective Problem-Solving & Decision-Making (UC-Irvine) |
As you can see, the core elements of even an elite MBA program are well-covered by MOOCs from comparably-ranked schools. And this only represents a small sampling of relevant courses.
Of course, a formal MBA curriculum entails more than just standalone courses – it also includes experiential learning opportunities, team projects, career services, and a valuable alumni network. MOOCs cannot fully replicate these components.
However, it is absolutely possible to construct a robust business education using free and low-cost online courses as a foundation. The key is to go beyond passive viewing and find ways to put your learning into practice.
Tips for MOOC MBA Success: A Tech Perspective
As a full-stack developer and coding bootcamp instructor, I know firsthand the importance of hands-on projects for solidifying new knowledge. The same principle applies when learning business skills.
Here are some ideas for creating your own "experiential learning" opportunities as part of a MOOC MBA:
- Volunteer your technical skills for a non-profit or early-stage startup, with a focus on getting exposure to the business side
- Seek out part-time internships or contracting roles that let you apply both your tech chops and growing business acumen
- Start a side project with revenue-generating potential (e.g. an e-commerce site, web app, or niche website) and treat it like a mini-MBA learning lab
- Join or create a mastermind group with other aspiring tech leaders to discuss business ideas, challenges, and case studies
- Take on a leadership role in a local tech meetup or professional association to practice communication, planning, and people management skills
Another important element for MOOC MBA success is accountability. Without the structure of a formal program, you‘ll need to create your own systems to stay on track.
One helpful strategy is to create a public learning log to document your progress. You might write weekly blog posts recapping key lessons from the courses you‘re taking and how you‘re applying them in your projects. This is also a great way to demonstrate your growing knowledge to potential employers or collaborators.
From Coder to CEO: Positioning Yourself for Business Leadership Roles
Pursuing a business education through MOOCs can be a great option for software developers and other tech professionals looking to transition into management and leadership roles. The combination of technical expertise with business savvy is highly sought-after in today‘s economy.
However, making the leap from individual contributor to business leader often requires a shift in both skillset and mindset. In addition to building your knowledge through courses, it‘s important to proactively develop the key competencies needed for success in business roles.
According to a recent analysis by McKinsey, some of the most important skills for future business leaders include (Dondi et al., 2021):
- Adaptability and resilience
- Digital fluency
- Delivering through ambiguity
- Leading with empathy
- Leading high-performing teams
- Business acumen
- Managing change and complexity
Many of these skills can be developed through the kinds of experiential learning projects described above. You can also seek out mentors in your target industry for guidance on navigating the transition from tech to business leadership.
It‘s also crucial to get comfortable marketing yourself and your value proposition. As a former coder, you may be used to letting your work speak for itself. But as you move into business roles, you‘ll need to get good at articulating your strengths, experiences, and vision.
Treat your MOOC MBA as an opportunity to rebrand yourself from a technician to a strategic thinker and leader. Create a portfolio that showcases not just your coding projects, but also the business plans, market analyses, and case studies you develop through your coursework.
Overcoming the Limitations of MOOCs
While the potential of free and low-cost online courses is exciting, it‘s important to acknowledge the limitations of a MOOC-based business education.
Perhaps the biggest challenge is credentialing. While some MOOCs do offer certificates of completion, these don‘t carry the same weight as a traditional MBA degree from an accredited institution. Employers may view MOOC-based learning as less rigorous or legitimate.
However, perceptions are starting to change. A 2021 survey by Northeastern University found that 62% of HR leaders believe credentials earned online are of generally equal quality to those completed in-person, up from 50% in 2019 (Gallagher, 2021).
As more learners pursue alternative educational paths and prove their value in the workplace, acceptance of MOOC-based learning is likely to keep growing. But in the meantime, aspiring MOOC MBAs will need to work extra hard to translate their learning into career results.
Another limitation to keep in mind is that MOOCs are often designed for individual, asynchronous learning rather than team-based interaction. This means you may miss out on developing the collaboration and leadership skills that are central to success in business.
You can mitigate this drawback by proactively seeking out opportunities to work with others, whether through group projects in your courses, side hustles with partners, or involvement in professional organizations. But it will require more effort than you‘d get in a traditional MBA program.
Making Your MOOC MBA Count
Despite the challenges, I firmly believe that a self-directed business education using MOOCs can be immensely valuable – if you approach it with the right mindset and game plan.
It‘s not enough to passively consume course content. To make your MOOC MBA truly count, you need to:
- Curate your own curriculum focused on in-demand skills and your unique career goals
- Supplement your coursework with hands-on projects that demonstrate your ability to apply business concepts in the real world
- Cultivate a strong professional network through proactive outreach, collaboration, and involvement in industry events
- Develop a compelling personal brand that positions you as a leader at the intersection of tech and business
- Proactively market your skills and experiences to potential employers or clients
Pursuing a business education through MOOCs may not be the conventional path. But if you‘re willing to chart your own course and put in the work, it can be an incredibly effective and affordable way to launch the next phase of your career.
The democratization of education through online platforms has opened up new possibilities for driven learners to level up their skills and knowledge at any stage of life. By combining the technical prowess of a coder with the strategic thinking of a business leader, you‘ll be unstoppable.