An Overview of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), Pedagogies, and Distance Education

Introduction

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are the instructed course with various number of students using the internet. Indeed, MOOCs are not new tool to educational modules outline and strategy, this tool captivating, expanded thought and examination in advanced education. Universities in the United States and around the world started to offer MOOCs either through corporations with MOOC providers or on their own websites (Pappano 2012; Vardi 2012).

In addition, distance education refers to learning interventions during which geographically separated instructor and learners interact and communicate via telecommunication (Moore 1973; Simonson et al. 2012). Accordingly, distance education has several benefits and advantages over traditional courses, such as accessibility and time flexibility (Buckley 2003; Chen et al. 2009; Washer 2001).

Then, it presents educators and students with various kinds of difficulties, including the communication amongst students and teachers. In distance education, students may never get to a physical grounds or build up associations with their teachers (Bolliger & Martindale 2004). But, arbaugh (2000) argued that learners’ interactions with others in online courses increase their satisfaction with these courses.

In the meantime mid-1970s, a creating of imperically study has appropriated with hypothesis structure concerning study on the distance education. Despite the fact that MOOCs are viewed as a type of distance education (Romiszowski 2013), they are unique in relation to online courses that colleges have been putting forth for quite a long time utilizing a few instructional advances (Kim 2013; “MOOCs: Online Education 2012”). According to Allen and Seaman (2015), MOOCs contrast from ordinary online courses, because MOOC members are not enlisted students at the colleges offering them, MOOCs are intended for unlimited cooperation and free access through the internet, and the MOOC student, by and large, gets no acknowledgment for the fulfillment of the MOOC.

Meanwhile, by understanding several distance education from theories can help to understand the learner experience in terms of interaction in and satisfaction with MOOCs. This is supported by the theory of independent learning and teaching and the three types of interaction model introduced by Moore (1973, 1989). Furthermore, Moore (1973,1989) defined interactions in distance education and identify three significant types of interaction; learner-content interaction, learner-instructor interaction, and learner-learner interaction. By understanding the theory of independent learning and teaching, MOOC, pedagogies, and distance education will be successfully implemented.