Using technology to quiz students and stimulate interaction among them on a vast scale, Coursera, Udacity and edX, the three primary MOOC ventures, suddenly seemed to point the way to a new era of learning.
MOOCs began to grab the attention of many policymakers, not just educators, as a potentially effective but less expensive way to teach a big audience.
Online education has been around for decades at many universities. For-profit institutions such as the University of Phoenix started online programs as early as the 1980s. But these new MOOC ventures sparked huge interest because of prestigious names such as Stanford, Harvard and MIT, the sheer numbers and diversity of their enrollment, newer technology and the fact they offer courses for free, educators say.
They came on the scene amid a continuing economic recession and climbing tuition rates.
While these new MOOCs may still be seen as a way to learn for learning’s sake, talk now is about offering them for credit, which would contribute to the pursuit of degrees and even jobs.
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Using technology to quiz students and stimulate interaction among them on a vast scale, Coursera, Udacity and edX, the three primary MOOC ventures, suddenly seemed to point the way to a new era of learning.
MOOCs began to grab the attention of many policymakers, not just educators, as a potentially effective but less expensive way to teach a big audience.
Online education has been around for decades at many universities. For-profit institutions such as the University of Phoenix started online programs as early as the 1980s. But these new MOOC ventures sparked huge interest because of prestigious names such as Stanford, Harvard and MIT, the sheer numbers and diversity of their enrollment, newer technology and the fact they offer courses for free, educators say.
They came on the scene amid a continuing economic recession and climbing tuition rates.
While these new MOOCs may still be seen as a way to learn for learning’s sake, talk now is about offering them for credit, which would contribute to the pursuit of degrees and even jobs.