MOOC's

What is a MOOC?

A MOOC is a Massive, Open, Online Course.

• MOOC's are massive: MOOC's can have 400,000 - 500,000 registered students.
• Open usually means all you have to do to register is to provide your email address; and usually, there were no prerequisites.
  • Students usually register with a vendor, who forms partnerships with universities, so no FTE is generated.
  • But, more MOOC vendors are creating partnerships with universities to offer some type of verified certificate to students, that students have to pay for.
• MOOC's have only been offered online-you must have access to the internet to take a course.
• MOOC's are courses, that usually last between 4-6 weeks, though some are shorter and others longer.
  • Just like other courses, MOOC's provide a syllabus, recommended student background, course format (videos, quizzes), and the names of the instructors.

How did MOOC's get started?

According to an article from the Washington post: How did it start?

Coursera, a for-profit company started in 2011, by two Stanford University computer science professors, partnered with a number of big-name schools — including Princeton University and the University of Virginia — to offer free, no-credit courses online.