What is a MOOC?

Generally speaking, MOOCs are entirely online and open to anyone with an Internet connection. Unlike a typical online course, MOOCs are usually free, though not always, and draw hundreds or thousands of students.

There are about 4 ! MOOCs currently a"ailable worldwide, according to #ay $chroeder, director of the Center for Online %earning, #esearch and $er"ice at the Uni"ersity of Illinois&$pringfield. $tudents can take courses on online ga'es, opera, calculus and 'ore.

Classes in"ol"e self(paced learning, are di""ied up into sections and include discussion boards and assess'ents. Grades are deter'ined by an instructor, peers or grading software.

MOOCs ser"e a range of purposes, though helping students earn college credit is not a pri'ary one ) at least not yet. In *ebruary +!,-, the .'erican Council on /ducation endorsed fi"e science and 'ath MOOCs for acade'ic credit. .lthough .C/ has a 'e'bership of 'ore than ,,0!! colleges and uni"ersities, it1s still up to each school to decide which courses they will recogni2e.

To date, only a few institutions ha"e taken .C/1s reco''endation. 3ut Curtis 3onk, education professor at Indiana Uni"ersity, thinks that will soon change.

3efore the year is out, 3onk says, 45e1ll probably see at least a do2en uni"ersities 6u'ping in to say they will recogni2e these pri2e courses.4

In the 'eanti'e, 3onk says, people can take MOOCs for professional de"elop'ent, to prepare for college or as a 'eans to indulge a hobby or beco'e inspired. Taking MOOCs can also be the first step to switching career tracks.

Co'pleting se"eral courses ) e"en for no credit ) can signal to a future e'ployer or ad'issions dean that you are ready to take the ne7t step in your acade'ic or

professional career, he says. Who offers MOOCs?

Of the organi2ations that offer MOOCs, three do'inate the national headlines. .ll were launched in +!,+ and ha"e business 'odels that are still e"ol"ing.

Coursera, founded by two $tanford Uni"ersity professors, is a for(profit education co'pany that offers -8! MOOCs on a range of topics in partnership with uni"ersities. Courses are free, though students ha"e to pay a fee to earn a "erified co'pletion certificate. Coursera offers the fi"e courses appro"ed by .C/.

Udacity, founded by a $tanford professor and two entrepreneurs, is also a for(profit educational co'pany. Through partnerships with "arious uni"ersities, it offers about two do2en courses, 'ostly with a science and technology focus. The courses are free, as are the Udacity certificates of co'pletion, unless a partner organi2ation charges a fee for the final assess'ent9 howe"er students should check with Udacity1s partners regarding potential testing fees.

ed: is a nonprofit organi2ation founded by ;ar"ard Uni"ersity and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ed: offers - courses in an open(source online learning platfor', 'eaning that other institutions will be able to host the courses the'sel"es. Courses are free, though ed: says it will e"entually start charging a fee for certificates. critics of 'oocs<(MOOCs are different fro' traditional online courses in that they are usually free, open to anyone with an Internet connection and draw hundreds or thousands of students. MOOCs can be created by institutions and indi"iduals and are 'ost co''only offered by third parties such as Coursera, ed: and Udacity.

Colleges and uni"ersities don1t typically accept MOOCs for credit, unless they are associated with their own progra's. ;owe"er, e7perts predict that will change in co'ing years as institutions feel pressure fro' their peers and students to accept the classes.

=%earn 'ore about the basics of MOOCs.>

.d"ocates of MOOCs say they ha"e a range of benefits, e"en if they don1t count toward a degree. The classes can be used as free professional de"elop'ent tools or for help with re'edial courses before college, e7perts say. They can also help students e7plore personal interests or transition into a new career.

3ecause MOOCs are often taught by professors fro' top uni"ersities such as ;ar"ard and $tanford, they also gi"e students the benefit of learning fro' the world1s 'ost distinguished educators.

4This 'o"e'ent has raised 'ore awareness and enthusias' for higher learning than I recall in recent history in this country,4 says #ay $chroeder, director of the Center for Online %earning, #esearch and $er"ice at the Uni"ersity of Illinois&$pringfield. 4It has allowed people to ?uickly and easily access learning in fields that otherwise they would ha"e ne"er pursued.4

$ince MOOCs 'ade their initial splash in the late +!!!s, proponents ha"e lauded their potential to 'ake higher education accessible to the de"eloping world. Through use of a s'art phone, co'puter or other de"ice with an Internet connection, people in re'ote "illages can ha"e access to higher education ) for free.

.bout half of the students who enroll in MOOCs are fro' outside of the United $tates, according to $chroeder. The largest nu'ber of enrollees co'es fro' India, #ussia and 3ra2il.

4I think there is a great desire for .'erican education in these countries and they highly "alue taking a class fro' a $tanford Uni"ersity, a @rinceton, a Uni"ersity of @enn, etc.,4 he says.

=#ead about the possible benefits of MOOCs.>

Aespite the hype, 'any ?uestion the ?uality of the courses, arguing that the best way to educate students is through face(to(face interaction. MOOCs 'ay offer discussion groups, but that is nothing like ha"ing a back(and(forth con"ersation in real ti'e, they say.

.nd although online learning 'ight be a good fit for so'e students ) particularly older students and working adults ) so'e say MOOCs 'ay not be ideal for young undergraduates and people at risk of dropping out of school. MOOCs often enroll 'any students at the get go, but only a s'all percentage of students actually finish the classes, e7perts say.

4*or 'oti"ated learners, certainly MOOCs work "ery well,4 $chroeder says. 3ut 4for those learners who need close attention and support it can be 'uch 'ore difficult for the' to progress through those courses.4

Critics ha"e also e7pressed concern o"er how MOOCs will affect the U.$. higher education syste'. .s students turn to MOOCs taught by I"y %eague instructors, they wonder, will regional colleges and less(selecti"e schools lose their student baseB 5hy are MOOCs in de'andB .lthough it 'ay see' like MOOCs e'erged out of nowhere, they actually ha"e a long history.

$chroeder, of Illinois, traces the origins of MOOCs to the late ,CC!s, when 'any colleges had already begun offering at least so'e online courses. .t that ti'e, MIT took the step of re?uiring professors to put their syllabi online. The 'o"e, he says, 'ade 'any professors reali2e they had the potential to reach students outside their classroo's.

The ter' MOOC was coined in +!!0 during a course called Connecti"is' and Connecti"e Dnowledge. Twenty fi"e students at Canada1s Uni"ersity of Manitoba paid for the course, but +,-!! people took it for free. Many of the early pioneers of MOOCs were inspired by connecti"is', a theory that students learn best fro' interaction and cooperation with each other, particularly through technology.

MOOCs didn1t really capture the world1s attention until +!,,, when an artificial intelligence course taught by $tanford professor $ebastian Thrun and Airector of #esearch at Google @eter Eor"ig attracted ,F!,!!! students fro' ,C! countries. Thrun later went on to co(found Udacity.

=#ead about the possible benefits of MOOCs.>

.cade'ics ha"e different theories on why it took until +!,, for MOOCs to take off. $chroeder, for e7a'ple, thinks it was three factors co'ing together< the recession, the low cost of technology and widespread Internet access.

3ut $tephen Aownes, who offered the course at the Uni"ersity of Manitoba, thinks we would still be talking about MOOCs e"en without the econo'ic recession.

45hen $tanford did that artificial intelligence course, it was like lighting a powder keg,4 says Aownes, now a senior researcher at the Eational #esearch Council of Canada. 4It1s a latent de'and for open access to education. .s you offer up educational opportunities, people flock to the'.4

basics:--.nd all for no college credit, although "arious for(credit 'odels are on the drawing board =source< Masterson>. The classes typically run fro' about four to ,+ weeks. Most MOOCs are introductory classes you1d take early in a college career, though so'e higher(le"el sub6ects are a"ailable, catering to students who already ha"e so'e college background or degrees and are looking to continue their education or add a new entry to their resu'es =sources< Mar?ues, @o2niak>. It1s easy to dis'iss the new for'at as a re'ake. OpenGale and iTunesU already offer free online lectures. $o'e colleges offer free e(te7tbooks and coursework through those types of 4open learning4 platfor's =source< Mar?ues>. #eally, if you set the cost(free thing aside, it see's like we1"e had si'ilar opportunities for years ) people ha"e long earned actual college credits and co'pleted degrees online. MOOCs are legiti'ately different, though, at least in theory. Gou take a traditional online course, 'ake it free, ni7 a lot of the preconcei"ed structure, and oh, right (( ha"e your class'ates grade your work. The end is a collaborati"e, populari2ed approach to learning based on a theory called connecti"is'. In @ractice< The MOOC /7perience /"ery MOOC is different, but the 4Eetworks Illustrated< @rinciples without Calculus4 course offered by @rinceton is pretty representati"e of the uni"ersity "ersion. It is a si7(

week, not(for(credit course offering free, unli'ited enroll'ent without prere?uisite knowledge, using student(to(student and instructor(to(student interaction 'odels, and 'ostly auto'ated feedback on coursework =sources< Coursera, 3rinton>. 5hile the course itself is free, the suggested reading for the course is not9 students who want to read the reco''ended book ha"e to purchase it. Christopher 3rinton, a @rinceton @h.A. candidate Hin +!,-I in electrical engineering H//I, and @rinceton // professor Mung Chiang teach the course pri'arily "ia prerecorded "ideo lectures, which is the nor'. They present two one(hour lectures per week, with 'ultiple(choice, instant(feedback ?ui22es interspersed throughout to test co'prehension. Instructors answer students1 ?uestions regularly "ia foru' and occasionally in li"e chat sessions, or 4"irtual office hours4 =source< 3rinton>. Coursework is esti'ated to take si7 to eight hours per week, with weekly ho'ework assign'ents and 'idter' and final e7a's. .ll are 'ultiple(choice, 'achine(graded, and pro"ide instant feedback and e7planations. 5ith no reliable o"ersight to pre"ent cheating, @rinceton does not offer course credit, a final grade or a certificate of co'pletion. $ince this particular course is not 6ob(skill oriented, 4I find it fascinating that still around ,!!,!!! students ha"e enrolled ... in the first year,4 says 3rinton. This is a co''on fra'ework, but it1s not uni"ersal. The pre(calculus algebra course offered by 3all $tate Uni"ersity includes peer assess'ent of coursework =source< Can"as>. The not(for(profit organi2ation Open $ecurity Training1s MOOC on rootkits is self(paced, 'eaning anyone can start and finish the course at any ti'e. That course has reco''ended Hbut not re?uiredI prere?uisite knowledge bases9 all suggested course 'aterials are free =source< MOOC %ist>. Eorth Carolina HECI $tate Uni"ersity offers an 4upgrade4 option for its MOOC course Aigital .$IC Aesign that 'akes it possible to recei"e college credit. Upon co'pletion with a grade of 0! or abo"e, a student can enroll in EC $tate as a non(degree(seeking student, successfully co'plete a few additional, proctored andJor hu'an(graded assign'ents, and recei"e full credit for the class =source< MOOC %ist>. The nu'ber of students taking ad"antage of all these MOOCs is in the 'illions =source< .llard>. Only about ,! percent co'plete the courses, though ) and, depending on who you ask, that1s not necessarily a bad thing =source< $i'onite>. In Theory< The MOOC Ideal 3ack in +!!0, two Canadian educators, $tephen Aownes and George $ie'ens, started the MOOC 'o"e'ent. Their course, offered through the Uni"ersity of Manitoba, was so'ething of an e7peri'ent. The ai' was to de'onstrate connecti"is', a learning theory $ie'ens had de"eloped. The class was called Connecti"is' and Connecti"ist %earning, and +,+!! students signed up =source< Morrison>. The core of connecti"ist theory goes like this< In the digital age, learning happens 'ost effecti"ely in networks. It is, $ie'ens said, e7ponentially increased by the act, and the art, of collaboration.

In other words, sharing, growing, and for'ing connections between see'ingly disparate infor'ation through a network produces greater understanding than consu'ing it fro' a single, finite source. %earning by consu'ption is static, which today 'eans it 'ight be inco'plete, or flat(out wrong, by the ti'e the lecture ends or the book hits the shel"es. %earning by collaboration, on the other hand, has no end. In a MOOC, sources of knowledge are endless. /ducation 'o"es in all directions (( between instructors and students and especially between students and students, establishing an en"iron'ent in which understanding continually e7pands and e"ol"es. That original MOOC, which so'e would now call a cMOOC, connected instructors to students "ia foru's, blogs, networks, #$$ feeds and li"e peer(to(peer chats. *ollowing a "ery loosely constructed syllabus, structured learning happened through online lectures and e7a's, but the self(guided learning was 'ore the point< Instructors pro"ided an o"erabundance of proposed online infor'ation sources ) 5eb sites, blogs, essays, books (( fro' which each student was to pick and choose in order to create his own path to understanding Hcheck out the @%/ sidebarI =source< Mar?ues>. .s the ,+( week course progressed, the range of 4course 'aterials4 grew in the for' of blogs, 5eb pages and foru' posts created by the students the'sel"es, who also participated in grading and peer assess'ent. MOOCs based on that se'inal fra'ework flooded e(learning platfor's in +!,+, created by indi"idual teachers, field e7perts, training organi2ations and uni"ersities =source< Mar?ues>. . +!,- @rinceton course called Eetworks Illustrated is a good e7a'ple of a uni"ersity(offered MOOC, which so'e would now call an 7MOOC. %et1s check that one out. MOOCs and the *uture of %earning In +!,-, fi"e MOOCs won credit reco''endations fro' the .'erican Council on /ducation, the sa'e organi2ation that ad"ises colleges on how to deal with high school .@ credits. Colleges don1t ha"e to accept those MOOCs for credit, but now it1s easier for the' to do so if they want to. The MOOC platfor' Coursera is e7ploring ways to offer in( person, proctored add(ons for students who want to earn "erified certificates of co'pletion, si'ilar to the way EC $tate1s .$IC design course handles crediting =source< Goung>.