MOOCs 2.0: The social era of education

Abstract

The improvements in the Internet technology led an evolution in education. Some students' lives have changed since 2012 when the MOOCs gained popularity among the academia. The students now take courses from the top universities all around the world without time limitations and they even earn credits for their courses. They are able to discuss lecture topics not only with their instructors in the class but also with thousands of other online students and can get just-in-time help regarding to their questions from teaching assistants. These are some of the practices from the new era of MOOCs called "social MOOCs" or MOOC 2.0. The concepts of collaboration, blended learning and TAs are the new consequences. In this paper, we review the problems and the current solutions associated with MOOC 1.0 era. In the light of these, we analyze the MOOC 2.0 era and discuss its present and possible future affects to our lives.