by Pamela Rossow, Education Connection
Maybe you haven’t heard the acronym “MOOC” before. You might have read about the wildly popular, free online courses offered by Harvard, M.I.T. and Stanford, though. It is basically the same thing. MOOC stands for “massive online open classrooms” and these powerhouse universities dove right in. A free online class was uncommon up until recently. Where could you attend an online course and pay nothing? Of course, you don’t earn course credits—at the moment—for these free classes, but that could change in the future. The University of Washington is talking about offering free classes for credits soon. For now, MOOCs permit huge student groups to study subjects like artificial intelligence or ‘how to create smartphone apps.’ There is a rush for colleges to get on board and the University of Illinois along with Duke and the University of Virginia are now opening up online classes to the public.
http://www.educationconnection.com/blog/2012/08/moocs/
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