Massive open online courses are shaking up higher education

By Katherine Forestier. Massive open online courses are seen as a game-changer in education. But they worry the establishment, even as more universities rush to introduce them, writes Katherine Forestier.
The numbers, at least, are massive. One million users signed up to 16 University of Pennsylvania online courses; about 83,000 for the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology's course "The science of gastronomy" and 23,000 for Chinese University's "The role of renminbi in the international monetary system".
No lecturer could ever imagine reaching out to so many students, unless they double as a television star like Manchester University's physicist Brian Cox. Massive open online courses, or Moocs, are being heralded as a game-changer in higher education by the likes of Simon Marginson, the Australian higher education guru now based at the Institute of Education in London, or as a tsunami sweeping through the sector, by Li Fei, vice-president at Wuhan University. More...