Online Learning Gets Massive, Open

By Garry Kranz. MOOCs haven’t yet hit the mainstream, but they could herald a shift in how employees acquire new skills. Recruiting company Aquent is using a new twist on online learning to help its clients hire next-generation Web developers. Faced with job requests from companies that it could not fill, the Boston-based specialized recruiter for ad agencies in 2012 launched a massive open online course, or MOOC, on skills related to HTML5, the latest version of the markup language that defines how Internet content gets structured. Ad agencies need Web developers well-versed in mobile technologies such as HTML5, yet many code writers seem to lack the necessary skills to compete for available jobs, said Alison Farmer, Aquent’s vice president of learning and development. More...