JOURNAL OF HIGHER EDUCATION THEORY AND PRACTICE

MOOCs and the Future of Higher Education

Author(s): Peter J. Billington, Michael P. Fronmueller

Citation: Peter J. Billington, Michael P. Fronmueller, (2013) "MOOCs and the Future of Higher Education," Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, Vol. 13, Iss. 3/4, pp. 36 - 43

Article Type: Research paper

Publisher: North American Business Press

Abstract:

MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) have exploded onto the online education scene in the last few

years. Pundits have expressed their opinions from one extreme – physical college campuses will

disappear within 10 years – to the other - MOOCs are a bubble which will burst in a few years.

Increasing use of technology mediated modes of instruction challenges traditional notions of instructor-

learner interaction. This paper will provide an explanation of MOOCs and explore possible realistic

scenarios for MOOCS’s and the online environment in higher education. The higher education cost and

tuition bubble is an important part of online and MOOCs. MOOCs have provided an impetus for

discussion of how to award credit, how to prevent cheating, and how to grade the large number of

students efficiently while assessing the online interaction among students and instructors.