Massive Open Online Courses have made an impact in the world of learning. We have more than 20+ providers to MOOCs and most of it is provided free of cost to anybody who is willing to learn. What sets them apart is the learning is technology driven, provided by world class instructors and institutions, and overall the content is really contemporary and cool!  

 I took one interesting course by Richard Boyatzis on emotional intelligence. The quality of course and its conduct was superb. Thanks the instructor and coursera for doing such a great work ! 

What I wonder is why organizations are not able to leverage such a great potential of MOOCs. How can they encourage, recognize, and reward employees to take courses through MOOC providers ? 

I would suggest the following –

1. Identify how MOOCs that are aligned to your learning agenda 

Identify the key courses that could connect to your employees and fulfill their learning needs. 

2. Link to development planning

Ensure managers/learning team can recommend the identified courses as part of learning / development planning

3. Provide Recognition

Have the courses completed through MOOC have same credits and recognition as your internal programs ! 

4. Reward 

MOOC is a huge saving for your organization. May be 10 % of savings can be used as reward for employees who complete online courses. Let there be more publicity as well ! 

Check this out : http://www.mooc-list.com/