How Effective are MOOCs?
The answer is still uncertain.
MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) are online courses which are usually free and open to anyone with internet access. Three well-known organizations which offer MOOCs are Coursera, Udacity, and edX.
According to the U.S. News, some teachers and education experts hold the position that MOOCs can improve U.S. higher education. Others are more skeptical and think more time is needed before any results from MOOCs can be judged.
Fiona Hollands, who worked on a 2014 study about MOOCs for Columbia University, comments that there is not enough data about MOOCs at this time to judge their effectiveness.
However, she thinks the MOOCs impact on classrooms is overall positive, as it has made instructors “rethink how they approach their teaching.” Based on the MOOCs example, some instructors of blended classes (which combine online and on-campus learning) have reorganized their lectures into shorter sections and set apart more time for problem-solving during class to improve their students’ performance.