Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)

What Is a MOOC? 

A massive open online course (MOOC) is a model for delivering learning content online to any person who wants to take a course, with no limit on attendance. This ELI 7 Things You Should Know About MOOCs (November 2011) provides additional key facts about MOOCs.

Upcoming Events

• ELI Online Spring Focus Session, April 3-4, 2013

Additional MOOC Resources

• What Campus Leaders Need to Know About MOOCs,” EDUCAUSE, December 2012. This brief discusses how MOOCs work, their value proposition, issues to consider, and who the key players are in this arena.
• The MOOC Model: Challenging Traditional Education, EDUCAUSE Review Online (January/February 2013), A turning point will occur in the higher education model when a MOOC-based program of study leads to a degree from an accredited institution — a trend that has already begun to develop.
• General copyright issues for Coursera/MOOC courses, Penn Libraries created a copyright resource page for schools using the MOOC Coursera platform. This page provides an overview of special copyright considerations when using Coursera.
• Online Courses Look for a Business Model, Wall Street Journal, January 2013. MOOC providers, Udacity, Coursera and edX, seek to generate revenue while they continue to experiment with open platforms.
• Massive Open Online Courses as Drivers for Change, CNI Fall Meeting, December 2012. Speaker Lynne O'Brien discusses Duke University's partnership with Coursera, and their experiments with massive open online courses (MOOCs)
• MOOCs: The Coming Revolution?, EDUCAUSE 2012 Annual Conference. This November 2012 session informs viewers about Coursera and the impact it is having on online education and altering pedagogy, provides insights into how and why one university joined that partnership.
• The Year of the MOOC, New York Times, November 2, 2012. MOOCs have been around in one form or another for a few years as collaborative tech oriented learning events, but this is the year everyone wants in.
• Massive Open Online Courses: Legal and Policy Issues for Research Libraries, ARL, October 22, 2012. This issue brief addresses policy questions regarding MOOCs, open access, fair use, and research libraries. 
• What You Need to Know About MOOC's,” Chronicle of Higher Education. CHE’s collection of MOOC-related articles.
• Challenge and Change,” EDUCAUSE Review (September/October 2012). Author George Mehaffy discusses various aspects of innovative disruption facing higher education including MOOCs.
• A True History of the MOOC,” September 26, 2012. In this webinar panel presentation delivered to Future of Education through Blackboard Collaborate, host Steve Hargadon discusses the "true history" of the MOOC. It’s also available in mp3.
• The MOOC Guide. This resource offers an online history of the development of the MOOC as well as a description of its major elements.
• MOOC.CA. This MOOC-centric newsletter, authored by Stephen Downes and George Siemens, offers news and information on MOOC providers.
• Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) Constituent Group. This EDUCAUSE constituent group takes a broad look at MOOCs as a paradigm of learning communities and open education.
• Reviews for Open Online Courses is a Yelp like review system from CourseTalk for students to share their experiences with MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses).

MOOCs of Interest

• Learning Analytics and Knowledge, Society for Learning Analytics Research, Feb. 11 to April 7, 2013.
• Current/Future State of Higher Education 2012. Eleven organizations, including EDUCAUSE, have come together to provide a course that will evaluate the change pressures that face universities and help universities prepare for the future state of higher education.

MOOC Providers

• Coursera
• edX
• Udacity

Updated March 2013