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By Carrie Saarinen. C.S. Lewis said, “You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.” Some people feel the same way about online courses, hence, the MOOC was born.
Working on the front lines of Canvas Network, I’ve learned there are plenty of great reasons to embrace MOOCs. Sometimes I talk with people who’ve thought long and hard about the philosophy behind MOOCs, while others approach it from a carefree "I just want to try it!" perspective. Whatever your mentality, teaching a MOOC is a great experience with lots of practical value. Here are a few reasons to consider teaching a MOOC. More...

By Jeannie Crowley. While the term "MOOC" brings to mind thousands of students viewing recorded lectures without much interaction, alternative models are fostering creativity and collaboration with peers. What is a MOOC? The term has dominated the online education conversation over the past year, yet there is still a lot of ambiguity surrounding its definition. Even a look at the components of the acronym itself--massive open online course--can lead to more questions than answers:

• Massive:What is the threshold for massive? Is the threshold relative to the size of the institution?
• Open:Is the platform open source? Can anyone lead a course? Can any institution offer a course? Can any student enroll? Are all of the materials open? (Free and open are not synonymous.) Is it accessible for diverse learners and languages?
• Online: How do we define online? Are we thinking about SMS/mobile-only courses? What about blended learning?
• Course:What makes it a course? Why are we trying to replicate face-to-face experiences (courses) in a new medium? Is the traditional semester approach ideal for online environments?

It is tempting to create a one-size-fits-all definition of a MOOC based on our answers to these questions. More...

By Malini Nair. Sankalp Garud, 17, has taken a course in mathematical thinking at Stanford, calculus at UPenn , social psychology at Wesleyan and mechanics at MIT. All while staying put in Ghatkopar.   In Delhi, media manager Tituraj Kashyap is learning about the history of photojournalism from the star professors at University of London and is topping it with a songwriting course from the Boston-based Berklee College of Music. Techie Anand Sathe's academic basket includes eight courses ranging from machine learning to the theory of irrational behavior (the latter — taught by Dan Ariely from Duke University — is one of the most popular MOOCs). More...

By Pawan Agarwal. Online courses may help alleviate faculty shortages and improve education. Digital technologies have the potential to dramatically transform Indian higher education. A new model built around massive open online courses (MOOCs) that are developed locally and combined with those provided by top universities abroad could deliver higher education on a scale and at a quality not possible before.  University enrollment in India is huge and growing. It surpassed the U.S.'s enrollment in 2010 and became second only to China that year. Every day in India 5,000 students enroll at a university and 10 new institutions open their doors. More...