The Evolution and Evaluation of Massive Open Online Courses	4
	Series Editor’s Preface	7
	Foreword	9
	Preface	13
	Contents	16
	1 MOOCs and Educational Value	17
	Educational Value	17
	Instrumental Value	18
	Technical Value	18
	Hedonic Value	20
	Use Value	21
	The Beneficial	22
	Two Types of Educational Benefits	22
	Educational Benefits and the Social Context	24
	The Educational Value of MOOCs	25
	Note	26
	2 The Economic Crisis and the Rise of MOOCs	27
	Introduction	27
	Education, Society and the Economy	28
	Work and Education in the Industrial Society	29
	The Industrial Social Structure	32
	The Crisis of Work in Information Society	33
	Globalization	33
	Multinational Firms and Foreign Competition	33
	Multinational Firms and Declining Employment	34
	The Managerial Revolution	35
	The Japanese Miracle	35
	Process Reengineering	35
	From Multinational to Global Firms	37
	From Mass Production to Flexible Production	38
	Stagnant Wage Levels and Persistent Unemployment	38
	New Opportunities for Educated Workers at the Periphery	39
	Global Communications Networks	39
	A Hydrologist Becomes an Information Manager	41
	The un-MBA	41
	The Decline of Jobs in the Gig Economy	42
	The Crisis of Higher Education in Information Society Persistently Higher University Tuition	45
	Shifts to Low-Cost Contingent Academic Labor	46
	Declining Return on Investment in Higher Education	47
	Declining Enrollments, Declining Revenues and Financial Exigency	47
	Need for Rapid Development of Education Infrastructure in Developing Nations	48
	Summary and Prospect	49
	Notes	50
	3 What Are MOOCs?	51
	Origins	51
	Distance Education, Internet Technology and Learning Management Systems	53
	Proprietary e-Learning Management Systems	53
	Open Courseware and Educational Resources	54
	Early MOOCs	55
	x-MOOCs and Early MOOC Platforms	56
	Sebastian Thrun and Udacity	58
	EdX	58
	Coursera	58
	The X-MOOC Revolution	59
	The Meaning of ‘MOOC’	59
	Massive	60
	Open	60
	Online	61
	Course	61
	X-MOOC Aims	62
	The Spread of MOOCs	64
	Geographical Spread	64
	FutureLearn (United Kingdom)	65
	Open2Study (Australia)	66
	OpenUpEd (the Netherlands, Europe)	66
	Iversity (Germany, Europe)	66
	Verduca (Brazil)	67
	EdRaak (Jordan, Arab Countries)	67
	Spread Across the Prestige Scale	70
	Spread Beyond the College Audience and Shift Away from the College Course Model	71
	Spread Beyond University Providers	72
	Notes	73
	4 The Primary Educational Value of MOOCs	75
	Critiques of MOOCs	75
	Two Lines of Primary Educational Criticism	76
	Main Educational Criticisms of MOOCs	77
	Very Few Enrollees Complete MOOCs	77
	MOOCs Can’t Educate Because Education Requires Teaching	78
	MOOCs are Isolating but Learning is Social	80
	Classroom Isolation	80
	Community Isolation	81
	MOOCs Depend on Outmoded Pedagogy	81
	Responses to MOOC Critiques	82
	Completion is Irrelevant	83
	MOOCs Can Handle the Tasks of College Instruction	85
	High School Enrichment	85
	Stand-Alone High School Classes	86
	Precollege Review and Remediation	86
	College Orientation MOOCs	87
	MOOCs and the Tasks of Instruction	88
	The Didactic Dimension	90
	The Discursive Dimension	91
	The Heuristic Dimension	94
	Heuristic Learning Through Virtual Internships	94
	MOOCs Need Not Be Isolating – And Isolation in Learning is Not Always Bad	95
	Collaborative MOOCs	95
	Isolation in Learning	96
	MOOC Producers Have Joined the Learning Science and Educational Technology Communities	96
	Notes	97
	5 MOOCs and Career Qualifications	99
	Introduction	99
	The Educational System: Degrees as Qualifications	101
	MOOCs for College Credit	101
	Credits Are the ‘Coin of the Realm’	101
	The ‘System’	102
	MOOC Certificates for Transfer Credits	103
	First in the Nation	103
	The National Model	103
	Credit for Life Experiences	104
	Fulfilling State Policy Goals	104
	Survival for Bottom Feeders	105
	MOOCs and Competency-Based Education	106
	MOOCS 2 Degree	108
	Course Waivers	108
	Cut Rate Credits	109
	All MOOC Diploma Programs	110
	ALL MOOC Colleges and Universities	110
	Concluding Comments on MOOCs and the College Diploma Pathway	111
	Micro-qualifications: Micro-degrees and Specializations	111
	MOOC Certificates as Stand-Alone Credentials	112
	Udacity and Nano-Degrees	113
	ALISON Diplomas	113
	EdX XSeries Sequences and Coursera Specializations	114
	XSeries Sequences	115
	Coursera Specializations	115
	MOOCs as Components of Digital Portfolios	116
	Notes	117
	6 Three Contributions of MOOCs	118
	Three Contributions: Return, Revenue and Revolution	118
	Contribution I: Better Return on Student Investment in Higher Education	119
	MOOCs Can Help to Reduce Tuition and Fees	120
	Transfer Credits for Certificates	120
	MOOC + CLEP	120
	High School Advanced Placement Courses	120
	Cut-Rate Credits	121
	Course Waivers for MOOC Certificates	121
	MOOCs Can Improve College Instructional Effectiveness	121
	Better Precollege Preparation for University Studies	121
	College Prep Subject-Matter MOOCs	122
	College Orientation MOOCs	122
	Blended Learning in Flipped, Wrapped and Backed-Up Classrooms	122
	Flipped Classrooms	122
	Wrapped Courses	122
	Video as a ‘New Visual Language of Instruction’	122
	Increasing Social Interaction	123
	MOOCs Can Help to Add High Value (21st-Century) Experiences and Outputs	123
	High Tech, Entrepreneurship, Team-Building and Collaboration Skills	124
	Innovation and Team Building	124
	Collaboration	124
	MOOCs for Experience in the Real Economy	124
	Contribution 2: MOOCS Can Enhance University Revenues	125
	MOOCs Can Help with Positioning and Niche Marketing	126
	Positioning	126
	Niche Marketing	127
	MOOCs Can help with Special Projects	128
	Special Degree Programs	129
	Super-Star Professors with Media Tie-Ins	129
	Government-Sponsored National Development Projects	129
	Promoting the National Language	129
	Recruiting Security Agents	130
	Building Cutting Edge National Industries	130
	Corporate MOOC Partnerships	130
	Educating Clients and Suppliers	130
	Building Goodwill Through Repurposing Internal Documents	130
	MOOCs Can Aid in Faculty Retraining – Making Faculty Better at Emerging Academic Tasks	131
	Building Multidisciplinary Across the Campus	131
	Retraining the Faculty	131
	Revisioning the Organizational Mission	132
	Imagining New Possibilities	132
	Contribution 3: Transformation – Higher Education 2.0 From Jobs to ‘Gigs’	132
	A New Vision	133
	Notes	135
	Works Cited	136
	Index	148