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Very few Moocs lead to any sort of officially recognised qualification, so the recent success of the University of the People in being permitted to award degrees to students studying for its tuition-free, online-only courses marks a departure for the sector.

The University of the People, for example, states that undergraduates will study in groups of 30 to 40

he big question is whether you can [offer degrees] without tutorial support, and so at lower cost.

This is a professional development course for which the teaching methods currently used in MOOCs – videos, forums and quizzes* – are appropriate, because teachers are professionals who know how to learn, and can learn a lot from each other. These methods are not sophisticated enough for teaching children or even undergraduates in the developing world, which is why the beneficiaries are still the rich. But they may help to train the professionals who can begin to make the difference.

“I set out to create that same sense of the student sitting alongside me, one-on-one. If you can pull it off, it’s powerful. In particular, if you can create that feeling of intimate human connection, the student will overlook a lot of imperfections and problems.”