Massive Open Online Courses

Massively open online courses (MOOCs) are generally said to have first been developed in late 2000s. They are online courses that are usually offered to thousands of students, if not hundreds of thousands of students, hence the term massive. Oftentimes, the students in these courses are noncredit students or learners who are not paying for the course or earning credit. Therefore, they have open enrollment so anyone from anywhere can sign up to take a course.

MOOCs can be considered a type of distance education where online learning takes place; however, there are several characteristics that set them apart from traditional mediated instruction and learning. Although some MOOCs may be designed to replicate the functionality of traditional online courses, these courses are massive ...