ABSTRACT
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are frequently touted as an innovative delivery system for high quality education. This chapter is centred on the profiles of five young people from the Mount Druitt region in Sydney, Australia, who have been linked to MOOCs through a project for widening participation in higher education. Drawing on the ‘capability approach’ advanced by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, the chapter argues that MOOCs may present as a potentially useful platform for offering higher education options to historically underrepresented populations, however MOOCs’ promise depends on adequate recognition from institutional gatekeepers such as education institutions, government agencies, and industry.
