A Lean Six Sigma Certification MOOC: Balancing Standard Material and Individual Guidance to Help Participants Implement Real Projects

Abstract

Lean and Six Sigma are management systems that aim to improve the development and operation of business processes. Lean and Six Sigma tasks and tools structure the phases: Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, Control (DMAIC). Their theoretical mastery and practical application leads to Yellow, Green, and Black Belt certification—monetarily rewarded by organizations worldwide. This makes Lean Six Sigma relevant for employees and attractive even for students. Our Lean Six Sigma MOOCs offer certification programs for the Yellow and the Green Belt—with more than 300k participants since 2015. In our Yellow Belt, the fundamentals of Lean and Six Sigma are taught and tested automatically online. In our Green Belt, the learner must implement a real project. The project can be learner-specific or predefined by us, is guided by a sequence of tasks and tools, and is supported by coaching and lectures. To balance our concept—wide range of project topics + digital project guidance + individual support—we develop and operate our MOOCs as business processes (Sect. 2), and outline Six Sigma in our context (Sect. 1). This is a report on the development and operation of a MOOC, not a research paper.