A Complete Guide to Getting an MBA-Level Business Education at a Fraction of the Cost
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Laurie Pickard
Author of Don't Pay For Your MBA
Hi! I’m Laurie. I used massive open online courses (MOOCs) from platforms like Coursera and edX to get a business education equivalent to an MBA - for less than 1/100th the cost of a traditional MBA degree.
My journey with MOOC-based education began when I saw an opportunity to build the business education I had long desired without going into debt. For me, as an international development worker, MOOCs had the added benefit of being accessible from anywhere.
My book and the resources on this site are for anyone seeking a world-class business education using the free and low-cost tools of the internet. I hope you find them useful!
The No-Pay MBA Blog
Video answers to your questions about studying business online
I recently asked readers of the blog and followers of No-Pay MBA on Facebook to submit their questions regarding studying business online so that I could answer those questions with personal video messages. Many people submitted questions. Below are the video messages I sent out in response.
In the first video I answered questions about getting started on a MOOC-based MBA equivalent and how MOOCs differ from a traditional classroom environment. In the second video I discussed why it might not matter if you don't get a degree at the end of your business studies, ways that MOOCs might actually lead to degrees, and the value of verified certificates. In the final video I shared some tips on how to present your MOOC MBA education and talked about how employers view MOOC-based business education, who can benefit from this form of education, and future directions for No-Pay MBA.
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From Blogger to Business Woman
It’s hard to believe it’s been almost two years since I started the No-Pay MBA project and wrote the first words on this blog. When I started this project, my goal was simply to answer the question, “Would it be possible to create my own MBA using free online courses and other cheap or free materials?” I set up a website to document my studies and a blog focused on answering that question.
Now, I’m coming full circle. June 2015 marks a critical transition for No-Pay MBA. Over the course of this month, No-Pay MBA will go from a blog site to a web-based business. I’m planning a lot of exciting activities throughout the month, both to mark the transition from blog to business and to make sure I answer all of your questions in the lead-up to launch. These activities will also include chances to meet and interact with your peers, people from all over the world who are considering or have already started No-Pay MBAs. You can stay informed about everything that’s coming by pre-registering to start your No-Pay MBA if you haven’t done so already.
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How To Network Like An Entrepreneur: Tips from MOOC business student and entrepreneur Kevin Meldau
It’s widely accepted that one of the most valuable components of a traditional MBA is the business school network. For aspiring entrepreneurs, some of the most valuable connections in that network are peers who may one day become co-founders or business collaborators. If you're studying business via MOOC, you can still build an amazing network. To illustrate this point, I'd like to introduce Kevin Meldau. As an education entrepreneur, Kevin is always excited about building his business acumen and exploring new developments in his field. MOOC-based business education sits right at the intersection of those two themes.
In addition to being a successful entrepreneur, a MOOC MBA student, and a key member of my startup team, Kevin is also a brilliant networker. I have learned a great deal from his approach to networking, and I’d like to share some of those lessons.
Here are some tips on building your network during a No-Pay MBA by networking like an entrepreneur, based on Kevin’s methods.
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Coursolve Digital Internships: Good for MOOC Students, Good for Businesses
The key to converting a MOOC education from personal development to career advancement is to put that education into practice in a job. We all know that in many industries a bachelor’s degree is a gatekeeper – if you don’t have one, you simply won’t be hired. But if you already have a degree and have been working for a few years, direct experience almost always trumps classroom education. Your degree may help get you in the door, but your experience and your performance on the job ultimately overshadow your degree in their importance.
When you use your MOOC business education in a work setting, you turn it from a series of facts you’ve learned on your laptop into a set of skills you can leverage for a promotion or in your next job search.
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Coming to a MOOC near you: 4 ways MOOCs are getting better (with Bill Aulet and Erdin Beshimov)
Nearly two years into my MOOC adventure, my enthusiasm for this learning technology hasn’t dampened in the slightest. Despite the fickle coverage of MOOCs in the press, with time I grow more - not less - excited about the changes they portend for higher education. I imagine we will look back on these early days of MOOC education and marvel at how far we’ve come.
Bill Aulet and Erdin Beshimov, of MITx’s popular Entrepreneurship 101 and 102 courses, agree with me. I recently got the chance to speak with this dynamic duo, and I was pleased to find that they share my belief in MOOCs as a transformative technology.
Here are the four ways MOOCs are getting better that I find most exciting.
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Tools and Tips for Solopreneurs Managing Global Teams
No-Pay MBA is usually a one-woman show, but I have managed to assemble a team of consultants who are helping me launch my new business. My team is global. We are in five countries, with only two people in the same time zone. I tend to enjoy the challenge of pulling together a great product on a tight deadline. Working with a geographically dispersed team has added a level of complexity to this endeavor that has forced me to up my game. Here are some of the tools I’ve found helpful and some tips for managing a working relationship even when you’re miles apart.
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Building a Concentration in your MOOC MBA
If you’ve been reading the blog or any of the news coverage of this project, then you know that I am planning to launch a business supporting people who would like to use MOOCs to get an MBA education. Given that I’m now starting a business, it’s probably time to make it official:
My MBA concentration is in entrepreneurship.
If you join me in this project, I’ll provide many more recommendations on how to put together your own No-Pay MBA, including choosing and building a concentration. For those who are already studying alongside me, here are a few tips on how to fit a concentration into a MOOC-based MBA equivalent.
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Coursera Business Foundations: The Newest Digital Business Credential
Coursera is my go-to MOOC platform . They have more business courses than anyone else, and the courses I’ve taken from them have all been excellent. In particular, the Wharton Business School courses (I’ve taken three so far) have been among my all-time favorites. But I’m not planning on signing up for the Business Foundations Specialization. And here’s why not.
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MOOCs: What Should You Pay For???
Verified Statement of Accomplishment? Nanodegree? Coursera Specialization? Lynda subscription? As the MOOC providers search for viable revenue models, the number of things you can pay for in the MOOC world has exploded. From subscription sites like Lynda, to micro-credentials like Udacity’s Nanodegrees and Coursera’s Specializations, the array of options is dizzying. None is as expensive as regular college credit, but fees for MOOCs now range from free with an option to pay $50 for a verified certificate (Coursera, edX), to upwards of $900 for a single course (NovoEd), to $200 per month for access to as many courses as you can handle (Udacity, Lynda). Here is my take on what you should pay for when it comes to online education.
read moreWharton Business Professor on MOOCs and the Future of the MBA
Christian Terwiesch is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School. He teaches a popular MOOC, Introduction to Operations Management, which I took last year. That course, along with three other Wharton courses, now form part of the newly...
Guest post: Why I turned down a company-paid MBA for a No-Pay MBA
I declined the offer of a traditional MBA, paid for by my company, in favor of a No-Pay MBA using Coursera and other MOOC providers. Why did I do this? How could I turn down such a generous benefit from my company? I'll give you five good reasons. Guest post by Nick Switzer.
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How to Present MOOC Course Work to Employers
How employers will view online learning depend on on a few factors, including what you studied online, how well you present what you studied, how receptive the particular employer is to self-directed learning, and how your MOOC studies fit into the rest of your work history and education. Here is my advice on how to structure your studies and your presentation of them in order to ensure that employers will sit up and take notice.
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