Problem: The difficulty of finding employment or to enter a regular school course is the issue dealt with by the platform of free online courses - Alison. The company’s services focus on people marginalized due to a lack of knowledge. The majority of students are from developing countries or are unemployed, young, elderly and immigrants in developed countries. Founded in Ireland in 2007 by Mike Feerick, the company is recognized as the first Mooc (Massive Open Online Courses). There are currently users in 180 countries.

Solutions: The project is one of the most popular free learning sites in the world. It offers over 750 courses, the majority of which are in English. There are also courses in French, Arabic and Kurdish. Among the users are thousands of companies, schools and universities in addition to the individual students. All the learning, assessments and certifications are free. The company only charges students for printed certificates. In order to take one of the courses, students just need to register on the site, using Google, Facebook, Yahoo, or other social media account. There are many categories such as courses that offer diplomas in business and entrepreneurial skills, digital expertise, IT skills and languages. Some of the more popular courses are psychology, safety and occupational health and human resources. The project has a system of innovative tests that allows the employer or educational faculty to request students from the tool’s online courses to take an online test on the material they have studied or said they have studied in order to demonstrate the level of knowledge they have on the subject. The test is quick, with about 20 to 30 questions. The project is a profit making social enterprise and offers courses developed by teachers and institutions such as Microsoft, Macmillan and the British Council.

Outcomes: When doing the online courses, the students and workers become more confident, independent, and competitive in the employment market and more capable of achieving their goals. They become more self-satisfied and therefore, more productive. Another advantage is that they can take free aptitude tests. Over 14% of the students say that the courses on the platform helped them to get a new job, a promotion or a place in an educational institution, according to a survey carried out by Alison in 2014. Of the five million students around the world, at least 600,000 completed their courses and received a certificate or diploma. Around 200,000 people register on the site every month. The company was one of the six winners of the 2013 Wise Awards, an international award for innovative ideas in education. In 2010, the company received an award from Unesco.