Internet Learning Volume 4, Number 2, Fall 2015 | Page 57

Internet Learning
together to help each other as individuals,
and as teams, to learn and use a personal
learning network (PLN). The constructivist
approach has been utilized in the design and
delivery of xMOOCs and cMOOCs. The
xMOOCs refer to instructor-guided lessons
which include discussion forums, videos,
and encourage discussion among learners.
cMOOCs, on the other hand, are based on
connectivism where learners engage in selfpaced
learning as they navigate the course,
build a web of connections among fellow
learners and create meaning by setting
their own learning goals and choosing how
to engage in the learning process. Through
active engagement and active learning
communities, the learners in cMOOCs learn
and create knowledge together (Scholz,
2013).
Literature Review
As evident from the technology
evolution in higher education,
course delivery systems must adapt
to society’s needs and student preferences.
Institutions of higher education have
evolved from postal correspondence to
providing an online learning experience
that parallels the design of an on-campus
class. However, as a result of the increasing
possibilities of technology infusion in
education, academia is now challenging the
concept of the traditional online class design
by offering courses in a very nontraditional
manner. The development of Massive Open
Online Courses is rooted within the ideals of
openness in education, knowledge should be
shared freely, and the desire to learn should
be met without demographic, economic, and
geographical constraints (Yuan & Powell,
2013). This idealized view of MOOCs posits
that benefits of online learning can be offered
on a massive scale. Leckart (2012) heralded
[the advent of MOOCs] as a significant event
in shaping the future of higher education,
envisioning a future where MOOCs offer full
degrees as ‘bricks and mortar’ institutions
decline. According to the Oxford Dictionary
(2013), the term MOOC is defined as “a
course of study made available over the
Internet without charge to a very large
number of people.” The courses are typically
free, but historically institutions have not
allowed participants to receive actual course
credit. However, as MOOCs have become
more mainstream, universities are beginning
to explore ways to reverse this trend. For
example, Arizona State University (ASU), the
largest public university in the United States,
recently launched it’s Global Freshman
Academy in partnership with MOOC
provider edX, allowing anyone to take an
entire first year of college online via MOOCs
for free ASU transcript credit. MIT recently
announced its intent to allow students to
obtain one of its master’s degrees by doing
half of the coursework via MOOCs. A 2015
U.S. and World News Report lists similar
MOOC-for-credit initiatives at institutions
like Georgia Institute of Technology and The
University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign.
The first cMOOC was offered in
2008, by the University of Manitoba in
Canada. The course, Connectivism and
Connective Knowledge, registered twenty-five
paying students seeking course credit as well
as 2,300 other students, from the public, who
enrolled at no cost. Daniel (2012), a wellknown
scholar of MOOCs, observed that
Stanford University offered a free MOOCs
course on Artificial Intelligence, which
enrolled 160,000 students. The success of
this MOOC course motivated Sebastian
Thrun, the professor at Stanford University
who developed the course to establish a
MOOC private start-up company called
Udacity which has played an important role
of promoting the development of MOOCs
in other universities (Meyer, 2012). Yuan
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