ABSTRACT

From banking to retail, newspapers to socializing, online technology is changing all aspects of our lives. Higher education, too, is being swept headlong into the digital revolution. Within the online learning phenomenon, the buzzword of the moment is massive open online course (MOOC). MOOCs are a new educational model fusing teaching and social networking. They are free, open-access, scalable online courses of higher education level, developed independently by academics or through a contractual partnership between a university and third party platform. The evolving concept employs various online resources, such as videos and message boards, in place of traditional practices of academic learning. Universities have long published lectures online. MOOC providers must convince students and employers alike that they provide the learning and qualifications to which they aspire. A pressing issue is accreditation. While different means of recognizing MOOCs for academic credit are being explored, currently very few courses have any form of accreditation.