MOOCs

Abstract

During the last decades universities and other higher educational institutions have been widely affected by the fundamental upheaval seen in organization of modern life. The phenomenon of xMOOCs can be seen as a catalyzer for changes in higher education institutions and its educational system. They are highly debated because they crystalize different trends and movements into one format. It can be interpreted at some point as a successful phenomenon in terms of popularity, but their educational success is strongly questioned. The debate they generate have a catalyzing effect on the development of higher education institutions. This phenomenon is analyzed at three different dimensions that belong to the core of formal education and specially higher education. The first dimension is the impact on the instructional design. With their broad reputation xMOOCs provide a blueprint for the instructional design of online classes, by chunking information, focusing on video lectures and accompanying them by the use of social media technologies to enable peer feedback and peer learning. The second dimension of implementing xMOOCs in higher education point at the faculty development demands in terms of competences required, a special technological setting and the discussion of individualized curriculum and learning paths. The third dimension analyses the implication in the higher educational system. Currently mainly internationally renowned academic institutions have the capacity and resources to offer xMOOCs, and the ones who provide a platform to host them are generating alternative institutional business models. They symbolize the trend towards a global market of learning and support the development towards the model of entrepreneurial universities.