Abstract:

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) emerged in the early 2010s as a transformative force in higher education, attracting unprecedented media attention and millions of learners worldwide. However, as the initial hype faded and the COVID-19 pandemic peak subsided, global enrollment figures on major platforms have declined sharply, leading many to question whether MOOCs remain a relevant educational tool in 2026. This paper argues that the apparent decline reflects reduced media visibility and increased competition from other online learning formats rather than a genuine loss of educational value.

Drawing on over a decade of institutional data from the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) — one of the most active MOOC providers on the edX platform — we examine participation trends from both a global and an internal perspective. While external enrollment figures have fallen dramatically from their pandemic highs, data from UPV's own community tell a markedly different story. Since the launch of its post-pandemic coupon distribution initiative (to give access to free certificates to its community members) in late 2020 through the end of 2025, UPV received 17,157 coupon requests and issued 6,534 certificates to 7,210 unique users, with yearly certificate counts showing a clear upward trend: from 258 in 2020 to 1,551 in 2025. This sustained and growing internal demand stands in stark contrast to the global enrollment decline, suggesting that MOOC and certificates are considered as valuable by the university community and that familiarity and institutional support are key drivers of MOOC adoption.

We further analyze UPV's recent expansion onto the Coursera platform and contextualize current data within the full historical trajectory of UPV's MOOC initiative. Our findings support the view that MOOCs have transitioned from a broadly hyped phenomenon to a mature, specialized educational resource. In environments where learners are aware of and have structured access to MOOCs — such as university communities with dedicated distribution mechanisms — engagement remains robust and continues to grow. The challenge, therefore, is not relevance but reach: without media amplification, MOOCs struggle to attract new audiences despite their continued pedagogical value. We conclude that MOOCs are not obsolete but overlooked — and that institutional frameworks can effectively compensate for diminished public awareness, offering a replicable model for other universities.

Keywords:

MOOC, online, education, Courses.