About MOOCs

OpenupEd is, worldwide, one of the largest MOOC providers for higher education. We consider MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) to be:

• online courses designed for large numbers of participants,
• that can be accessed by anyone anywhere as long as they have an internet connection,
• are open to everyone without entry qualifications,
• and offer a full/complete course experience online for free.

The reasons behind this definition can be found in this separate document. In addition, we see MOOCs as part of open education. This implies ‘openness’ in the sense not only of no financial cost, but also open accessibility, open licensing policy, freedom of place, pace and time of study, open entry, and open pedagogy. Next we see openness as an important business driver, enhancing the circulation of knowledge and increasing the pace of innovation.