Is “MOOC-Mania” over?

Abstract

The New York Times famously branded 2012 “The Year of the MOOC” given the upsurge of interest in so-called “Massive Online Open Courses.” MOOCs were seen as the future of distance education and the realization of a dream to “democratize” education. Anyone with online access could become a “student” and participate freely in courses offered by the world’s most knowledgeable professors at the most elite universities. Class sizes were unprecedented – it was not unusual to have tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of participants in some very popular courses. The Times declaration followed the launch of edX, by Harvard University and MIT, and the rapid growth of MOOC platforms and providers such as Coursera and Udacity. The Sand Hill Road venture capitalists invested substantial funds in these providers even though a monetization model was not obvious. It is now almost two years since “The Year of the MOOC” and we must ask ourselves whether the enthusiasm over the MOOC model was/is still warranted. Have MOOCs been successful in changing the direction of online education? What problems, issues, and challenges have MOOC adopters encountered?