The ‘massive’ part comes
from the fact that most of the courses do not have restrictions on enrolment
numbers. Udacity for example, which has
links with elite American Universities such as Dartmouth and Northwestern, has 28 courses
and 2 million users.
‘Open’ refers to the
limited restrictions (if any) placed on enrolment. Some courses though may have suggested
prerequisites. Open also means the
content of the course is free. Some
courses however to charge a fee for certificates of completion or for credits
towards university or college courses.
‘Online,’ well that one is
pretty straightforward. There’s no face
to face time required (you may be able to access skype and video links) but you
do not have to attend campus. And there
is limited opportunity to have one on one time with the expert taking the
course. You are competing for his/her
attention with potentially 10,000 other class mates!
‘Course’ refers to the
fact that is structure to the curriculum design. Some providers such as Coursera run their courses in semesters, others
however allow you to enroll at any
stage.
The quality of MOOCs is variable, as some
only allow renowned field experts conduct courses, where as others allow any
user to upload courses.
MOOCs have opened up the world of education
to millions of people that would of once found it inaccessible. Elite universities which were once
unobtainable unless you were wealthy or on scholarship are now providing
education to masses of people.