Abstract
During the last eight years, interest in massive open online courses (MOOCs) has grown fast and continuously worldwide. Universities that had never engaged with open or online learning have begun to run courses in these new environments. Millions of learners have joined these courses, many of them new to learning at this level. Amid all this learning and teaching activity, researchers have been busy investigating different aspects of this new phenomenon. In this contribution we look at one substantial body of work, publications on MOOCs that were produced at the 29 UK universities connected to the FutureLearn MOOC platform. Bringing these papers together, and considering them as a body of related work, reveals a set of nine priority areas for MOOC research and development. We suggest that these priority areas could be used to develop a strategic approach to learning at scale. We also show how the papers in this special issue align with these priority areas, forming a basis for future work.
Highlights
The first massive open online course (MOOC) was developed in 2008 (Cormier, 2008)
In order to begin to answer that question, this paper examines a large body of MOOC research from different disciplines, and identifies priority areas for development
Expand the benefits of teaching and learning in MOOCs From a learner perspective, MOOCs need to provide a clear introduction for learners new to the subject as well as support for continuing learners who may be working in a related area (Stokes, Towers, Jinks, & Symington, 2015)
Summary
The first massive open online course (MOOC) was developed in 2008 (Cormier, 2008). ‘Connectivism and Connectivism Knowledge (CCK08)’ was a course about connectivism that aimed to put into practice the principles of that learning theory. Very few universities have a commitment to widening access as part of their mission statement, so it may be that this is not their strategic aim when they produce MOOCs. These courses offer advantages for learners, for educators and for society.
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