Introduction
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are noncredit bearing courses being offered for free by numerous universities and organizations to anyone interested in enrolling in these courses. Distinct features of MOOCs are that they are designed for “massive” participation—thousands, even hundreds of thousands can participate in a MOOC— and students do not need to be enrolled in or even affiliated with the sponsoring organization offering the MOOC to register. Some MOOCs offer certificates upon successful course completion for a fee, whereas others do not. Often MOOCs are taught in face-to-face settings (F2F) as credit-bearing courses at an institution with students enrolled in degree programs. The F2F lectures are then recorded and disseminated online to the MOOC students. These lectures typically involve a professor offering a weekly lecture, offered for a varying number of weeks depending on the course, accompanied by a multimedia presentation with visuals and questioning from students in the audience (the F2F, paying students). The lectures are recorded and made available by a MOOC provider. Therefore, in a MOOC, it is not unusual to find students who have paid to take a course for credit and in a degree program studying parallel (with no interaction at all) or alongside (with some interaction, for instance in online discussions) students enrolled for free. However, many MOOCs are designed only as a MOOC and not also as a F2F course. Currently there are no standards as to how MOOCs are offered; it is unclear if there ever will be.
Who Is Offering MOOCs?
MOOCs are being offered by organizations such as Coursera (https://www.coursera.org/), edX(https://www.edx.org/), and Udacity (http://www.udacity.com/). These organizations consist of consortia of different universities who support the provider in some way. However, in the future, it will not be surprising if corporate and government organizations consider offering their own MOOCs, too, for many of the same reasons universities are exploring the possibilities of MOOCs.
Interest and enrollments in MOOCs are quite high (e.g., over 100,000 students enrolled in a MOOC offered at Stanford University) and will likely grow; however, persistence in MOOCs is quite low (Rosen, 2012), with small percentages of the non-paying students actually completing courses. It is too soon to tell why and whether this will continue to be the case with MOOCs.
Questions We Should be Asking About MOOCs
Clearly, MOOCs are exploring new territory. There are many forecasts about the implications of MOOCs for higher education, including that they will turn higher education as we know it upside down. One big question is whether they will revolutionize higher education (Webley, 2012). However, it is too soon to know what the implications will be. It seems that even if MOOCs result in some changes in higher education, in the short term, it appears to be a positive development for those interested in furthering their knowledge and skills without having to apply for a program or pay for it. Consequently, it seems a good fit for those who do not need traditional credentials to move up career-wise, but want to learn something new or establish their knowledge further in an area in which they are already knowledgeable. Of the three major MOOC providers listed in this article, Udacity is the only one that has a system in place for sharing résumés with potential employers. As MOOCs gain interest, this may become a common feature of all MOOC providers.
Given MOOCs are still in a nascent stage, there are many questions we should be asking—and researching, such as:
Who are MOOC students?
Why do these students enroll in these courses?
What are persistence rates for MOOC students?
What skills and knowledge are needed to be successful in a MOOC?
Who are the facilitators?
What kind of training do these facilitators or tutors receive?
What are the characteristics of effective facilitators or tutors?
Who is paying for MOOCs (their instructors, platform, facilitators, and tutors)?
How much do MOOCs really cost?
What is the return on investment for institutions providing MOOCs?
For MOOCs offering certificates, how will these be received by employers?
What are the major differences and similarities between MOOCs and traditional, credit-bearing online courses offered in degree and certificate programs?
How do MOOC students perform compared to traditional students enrolled in the same courses?
When is a MOOC too big?
What incentives are there for instructors to teach MOOCs?
Do MOOCs take more time/effort for instructors to teach and students to learn?
Are MOOCs effective for all types of learners?
How do instructors ensure quality learning experiences in MOOCs with multiple facilitators and thousands of students?
What type of content is best taught in a MOOC?
What are the benefits and challenges of MOOCs?
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