MOOCs AND THEIR INFLUENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS: PERSPECTIVES FROM THE INSIDERS
MOOCs AND THEIR INFLUENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS: PERSPECTIVES FROM THE INSIDERS

Summary/Abstract: MOOCs, and open education in general, are providing new learning opportunities for millions of people. MOOCs and digital continuous education are a flexible and scalable solution for to the needs of the current society. Many MOOC platforms offer various short degree programmes (like nanodegrees, micromasters, etc.) and even full online programmes in response to these needs. MOOC platforms have ushered in a new era of collaboration between universities around the world and opened new directions for academia to connect with students and practitioners. Introducing in the didactic activity of several sequences of online learning (existing in courses included in MOOCs), online laboratories (MOOLs) have created a new academic "format" and brought about a radical rethink of many aspects of traditional class delivery. In our paper, we will show the challenges of implementing of these activities in educational and training institutions. These challenges lie in their management, availability, flexibility and scaling. At the same time, the paper aims to help decision makers in higher education institutions gain a better understanding of the phenomenon of Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) and trends towards greater openness in higher education and to think about the implications for their institutions. The paper is written from a Romanian higher education perspective, however, but it also took into account by the developments in MOOCs from round the world. A literature review was undertaken focussing on the extensive reporting of MOOCs through scholarly blogs, press releases as well as openly available reports and research papers. Also, interviews and group sessions were conducted to ascertain the influence of MOOCs in educational tasks, and of these professionals opinions about the role of MOOCs in their institutions. The results to suggest that participants have positive attitudes towards incorporating MOOCs at the university, although it is specified that transition is difficult, but entirely possible.

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