Massive Open Online Courses after the Gold Rush
Otto Hüther, Anna Kosmützky, Igor Asanov, Guido Bünstorf & Georg Krücken (2020): Massive Open Online Courses after the Gold Rush: Internationale und nationale Entwicklungen und Zukunftsperspektiven. INCHER Working Paper 12 & LCSS Working Paper 4, Institutionelles Repositorium Leibniz Universität, Hannover & Kassel. DOI: 10.15488/9775
"Massive Open Online Courses" (MOOCs) have played a central role in the international discussion on the digitalization of higher education in recent years. In 2011, an international hype about MOOCs had started and led to opportunity structures that have been used in many higher education systems worldwide to promote digital higher education actively. Although the hype has subsided significantly since 2015, the number of MOOCs and the number of participants in MOOCs worldwide is still increasing. Against this background, this report analyses the international developments of MOOCs between 2011 and 2017 relates them to the German higher education system to sketch out future lines of development. The report has four main focus areas: 1) MOOCs in the scientific discourse, 2) developments among MOOC Providers across the globe, 3) German universities’ views regarding MOOCs, and 4) an assessment of future lines of development. These were investigated with different theories, methods, and types of data.