Mapping five O’s for reaping benefits from massive open online courses

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have catalyzed debates that reflect optimism and threat. Opening up more access to higher education resources and the monopoly on higher education have emerged in the related literature as potential outcomes of MOOCs. In this position paper, I discuss how governments, accreditation bodies, higher education institutions, academics, and students in under-resourced settings can maximize benefits from the MOOC model. I argue that MOOCs should not be contrasted to other higher education modes as belligerents in a zero-sum game. Instead, MOOCs and others modes of learning can be used as allies in a campaign to open up higher education to greater numbers of learners around the world. Openly licensed courses, open assessment, open competency-based certification and accreditation, as well as open education policies, can contribute to this inclusion if the target learners’ socio-economic and educational settings are taken into consideration. The paper concludes with some suggestions for various stakeholders in higher education who are trying to find a niche for engaging in MOOC practices in order to expand their educational impact in their respective communities and societies.