What is a MOOC?
MOOCs are platforms that are open, free to enroll in, have open curriculums, and can integrate with social networks. Courses are generally offered free of charge while prerequisites for the courses are provided in the course description, along with the expected outcomes of the course. They do not offer a formal accreditation system (McAuley et al., 2010, (Kesim & Altınpulluk, 2015, p. 2)).
​
MOOCs are internet based educational environments that provide the opportunity to take classes from elite universities and instructors through environments such as videos and presentations through open and free courses and course schedules with no formal degrees, certification or accreditation for the purpose of the self-development of knowledge and competences by individuals. The abbreviation of the initials that comprise the term MOOCs are reflective of this definition. The “massive” in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) indicates that this education appeals to a great mass of people. The system is designed to support the participation of a large student body. “Open” refers to the fact that these courses are opened for free to anyone willing to participate. “Online” indicates that these courses are conducted online through interactive tools such as videos, presentations, and audio (Kesim & Altınpulluk, 2015, p. 2).
​
There are generally two types of MOOCs: cMOOCs and xMOOCs
cMOOC
cMOOCs focus on knowledge creation and generation (Kesim & Altınpulluk, 2015, p. 18).
The theory of connectivism indicates that each individual is responsible for their own learning. (Kesim & Altınpulluk, 2015, p. 3). They establish their personal learning network through nodes and connections (Levy & Schrire, 2011). cMOOCs may be considered extensions of personal learning environments (PLE) and personal learning networks (PLN). (Kesim & Altınpulluk, 2015, p. 3).
​
Just as this situation has its advantages, it may be stated that this situation makes the assessment and evaluation along with the certification processes quite difficult. In addition, due to the open nature of courses, monetary gain from these systems are also quite difficult (Lugton, 2012, (Kesim & Altınpulluk, 2015, p. 3)).
Structure- Blogs, Learning Communities, and Social Media platform. In this environment, participants are all considered teachers and learners.
Example
xMOOC
xMOOC stands for eXtended Massive Open Online Course [extension engine].
Systems in which the instructor provides video presentations to teach the course while each student follows their coursework at their own learning speed (Mangelsdorf, 2012) (Kesim & Altınpulluk, 2015, p. 16). The behaviorist model is primarily based on the transfer of information from the teacher to the student. xMOOCs scale, they have prestigious universities supporting them, and they are well-funded. (Kesim & Altınpulluk, 2015, p. 18).
​
The most well-known xMOOCs are sites such as Coursera, edX, Udacity, Udemy, Khan Academy, and Venture Lab. The courses sections of these sites allow participants to take any course they wish, conduct their assignments and quizzes, and comp
Example
MOOC Struggles
In 2012 MOOCS a Times article written by Lura Pappano from Stanford labeled 2012 as, “The Year of the MOOC (Zemsky, 2014, p. 240) , by 2103 another article titled, “One of the dirty secrets about moocs—massive open online courses— is that they are not very effective, at least if you measure effectiveness in terms of completion rates. (Zemsky, 2014, p. 240)”. The next month another article read, “The Trouble with Online College.” Arguing that education via the Internet had been overrated and could produce more dropouts than degrees, “The online revolution offers intriguing opportunities for broadening access to education. But, so far, the evidence shows that poorly designed courses can seriously shortchange the most vulnerable students” (New York Times, February 18, 2013) (Zemsky, 2014, p. 241).
​
After analyzing data, MOOCs showed that only 4% of students completed their courses and student engagement fell off the first two weeks of instruction.
​
What were the problems?
​
Concerns surrounding quality of instruction, retention rate, and overall lack of defined developmental principles (Bonk, 2018).
​
Was this the End or Beginning of the MOOC?
​
Tom Friedman (2013) tried to still the growing number of doubters by observing, “The moocs revolution will go through many growing pains, but it is here, and it is real.” Lewin (2013), (Zemsky, 2014, p. 241). MOOCs are here to stay.
​
MOOCs are still around today and universities are partnering with MOOC platforms to expand their brands and reach a more diverse and global audience.
But have the issues of MOOCs been addressed to develop better courses?
​