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The vast majority of students who enroll in traditional university classes enter with the explicit intent of earning a credential. When students do not receive a credential, either the student, the system, or some combination of both has failed. MOOCs, however, cater to a substantially more diverse audience. Some students enroll on a whim, to see what a course is about, to figure out whether a particular topic might be worth pursuing, or out of curiosity regarding online education in general. Other students sign up for a handful of classes with the idea of shopping around to find a good fit. Yet other students enroll in a MOOC in much the same way that one might "bookmark" an interesting web page for future reference. The typical Coursera student enrolls in four courses on average; roughly 40 percent of all students have at least two courses running simultaneously. Furthermore, most Coursera classes involve a substantial time commitment, with estimated course workloads usually ranging from 5 to 15 hours of work per week. Since there is no financial cost or barrier to entry, there is little reason to believe that even a majority of the students who enroll in a MOOC intend to complete the class.

Flipped classrooms

"Instead of toiling at Moocs alone with the dim light of a laptop, communities around the world are combining screen time with face time," writes New America fellow Anya Karmenetz. "In these small-group, informal, blended-learning environments, students work with the support of peers and mentors and compete online on a level playing field with the new elite of the world.

MOOC has become a loosely used term for three different types of courses in the new vision of online university. The first is the paradigmatic massively open online course (MOOC): a fully automated machine-run course with no face-to-face instruction or human contact that is open to everyone.

MOOCs are seen as a means to enhance curriculum, allow self-paced coursework, personalize the curriculum with individualized educational goals and increase digital literacy. MOOCs are more accessible than traditional enhancements, such as after-school activities, field trips, and museum and university summer camps.

Connectivist MOOCs are based on principles from connectivist pedagogy

Human interaction

Flipped classrooms

The following three MOOC elements are particularly well-suited to corporate learning & development: Semi-synchronicity: Most MOOCs allow students to go through the course as a ‘semi-synchronous’ cohort of learners. That means each week the group receives the same assignment of video lectures, readings, quizzes and/or threaded discussions, but each member completes that course work on his or her own time. The design of semi-synchronous cohorts provides learners the opportunity to motivate each other as they go through the program.

Course design: “Flipping the classroom,” or swapping classwork with homework, was first made popular by Khan Academy, and is one of the defining features of MOOCs.This way, the most of the learning happens not through a professor lecturing but by giving students access to course materials and having them study and explore them at home. Then in class, they put their new knowledge to work with role-plays, use cases, and exercises.

Credentials: Many MOOCs offer college credit or certificates of completion, which help to legitimize and formalize the learning. At leading MOOC provider Coursera, 14 percent of courses offer verified certificates, for which registration costs between $30 and $100 depending on the course’s length and content. Seventy-five different Coursera courses offer verified certificates, through what the company calls its ‘Signature Track,’ and five of those offer college credit eligibility – they include Pre-Calculus and Algebra from UC Irvine, Calculus from UPenn, and from Duke one class on genetics and evolution and another on bioelectricity.In the workplace, certificates function as an incentive for employees to complete optional training or skill development courses, because they’ll have something to show for all their work.