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What are MOOCs?
Waks, Leonard J.

PublishedOctober 2016
Book titleThe Evolution and Evaluation of Massive Open Online Courses: MOOCs in Motion
Chapter 3, Pages 35-58
SeriesThe Cultural and Social Foundations of Education
PublisherPalgrave Macmillan US
CountryUnited States, North America

ABSTRACT
The large MOOC platforms were introduced against the background of the occupational and educational crises after 2008. The first Massive Open Online Courses, or MOOCs, were introduced in 2007 and entered the higher education scene and attracted immediate attention after the large platforms entered the scene after 2012. MOOCs had their origins in distance education, e-learning and open education. This chapter critically examines the meaning of the MOOC acronym, explains the vision and aims of the MOOC founders and charts the spread of MOOCs around the world and across the spectrum of learning situations after the launch of the big U.S. MOOC platforms.

Keywords educational benefits · educational value · MOOC

Published atNew York
ISBN978-1-349-85204-8
RefereedDoes not apply
Rights© The Author(s) 2016
DOI10.1057/978-1-349-85204-8_3
URLhttps://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-85204-8_3
Export optionsBibTex · EndNote · Tagged XML · Google Scholar


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