Massively Open Online Course (MOOC)

Sometimes, quenching our thirst for knowledge can be hard. College courses and credential programs can be expensive and time-consuming, and if we’re working or have family or other obligations, getting that educational bread can seem like more trouble than it’s worth. “There’s got to be a better way,” said universities like Stanford, Yale, and MIT in the early ‘aughts, and the MOOC was born.

“MOOC” stands for “Massively Open Online Course,” and in a nutshell, MOOCs are free online courses that are available to everyone.

Sounds great in theory, right? But in reality, even though kajillions of people (okay, thousands, but still) were signing up for MOOCs, only about 7-13% of those people were actually finishing them. And while online learning is definitely a great alternative to the classroom, early MOOC courses were pretty much just streamed lectures accompanied by multiple choice tests. Which, let’s face it, is not that exciting on the user end. Enrollment numbers fizzled. That and other factors led critics to conclude after just a few years that MOOCs were an idea whose time had come and gone.

But did they conclude too soon? As of 2018, over 100 million people have taken advantage of at least one MOOC. In fact, over 20 million new MOOC learners signed up for a course just during that 12-month period. Almost a thousand universities offer MOOCs, and there are dozens of MOOC-based degree programs available. (Don’t get too excited—those degree programs aren’t free, and can sometimes end up costing close to what it would to get a standard in-person or online degree.)

While completion numbers still aren’t where MOOC lovers would like them to be, changes in MOOC structure and setup—i.e., harnessing online learning technology to make the courses more engaging and intentional—have apparently helped keep them somewhat relevant.