The MOOC phenomenon: the current situation and an alternative business model

Abstract

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are a recent phenomenon that has achieved great media impact in the world of e-learning since the most prestigious US universities, and subsequently many others, became involved in them. In the last ten years changes that have occurred since the emergence of the Web 2.0, with the development of Open Social Learning (OSL) and the rise of OpenCourseWare (OER), leading to the MOOC phenomenon. Initially, and as part of this OER movement, MOOC began with the intention of providing open knowledge to people, with the understanding that it should be an asset to humanity (UNESCO 2012). In this paper we present a descriptive overview of the MOOC movement from its beginnings to the different business models being proposed.