The Impact of MOOCs on Higher Education

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25590219
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Education
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: FUNAMORI Miho 東京大学, 教育企画室, 特任准教授 (70377141)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 大規模公開オンライン講座（MOOC） / オンライン教育 / 大学改革 / 主体的学び / デジタル時代 / コンピテンシー / オープン・エデュケーション

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This work examined the impact of massive open online courses (MOOCs) on higher education which were initiated in 2012 by US elite institutions.
In US, MOOCs triggered movements towards online education, competency-based learning, personalized learning, and unbundling of higher education. In Asia and Europe, MOOCs were mainly perceived as marketing purpose. On the other hand, it made the universities aware that online learning could be an effective means of providing higher education. Additionally, flipped learning, which is a by-product of MOOCs, became also widespread in the world responding to the current needs for active learning.
In conclusion, MOOCs were an invention of the digital age, but it evolved rapidly in the context of 21st century higher education reform and accelerated the reform by its various by-products.

Free Research Field

高等教育研究