Fostering collaborative investment in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)

MOOCs have developed spectacularly in the last three years. These courses have attracted interest of various stakeholders, especially in higher education. Despite the MOOCs’ rapid development, their widespread adoption is being restricted by doubts about the quality of these courses, the lack of a sustainable business model, and the lack of a pathway to assess and accredit learning accomplishment. In this paper, I discuss five types of resources that can be collaboratively invested for successful MOOC practices: political resources, financial resources, technological resources, pedagogical resources and heutagogical resources. These different resources are mapped across different stakeholders who manage and control them and a framework for collaborative investment of these resources is provided. I discuss quality in MOOCs as an outcome of collaborative effort and investment of all stakeholders. Within this perspective, I argue that quality in MOOCs would be catalysed by collaborative investment of the five types of resources. I also argue that collaborative investment in MOOCs will thrive when all stakeholders involved share benefits from MOOC practices. Towards the end, I note the European terrain and legal framework for fostering collaborative investment in MOOCs across the continent. This paper may benefit stakeholders in higher education who are engaged or are planning to engage in MOOC practices and open education, especially those involved in the OpenupEd and the Higher Education Online: MOOCs the European Way (HOME) partnership.