Abstract:

In XXI century the new technologies are important tools in the higher education system. The technologies define the skills that students need to succeed in their learning process. Continuos changes of technology have produced significant and visible effects in our lifestyle and in the learning field. In this "new setting" appear new opportunities in the teaching and learning process at the University. For example, many institutions are developing massive open online courses (MOOC) where the students are distributed and course materials also are dispersed across the web. This is possible only if the course is open, and works significantly better if the course is large. The course is not a gathering, but rather a way of connecting distributed instructors and learners across a common topic or field of discourse.

The goal of this paper is revising and thinking about the online learning concept. Firstly, a profound literature review was realized to assess the effectiveness of teaching innovation. In so doing, the research concludes that the need for MOOCs seems to be a foregone conclusion. Universities and governments are pursuing MOOC projects vigorously and with increasing interest from outside of North America. European Commission has made a multi-year commitment to MOOCs, as has the Chinese government, which plans to offer 3,000 MOOCs by 2018. Stakeholders seem to be hedging their bets in investing in MOOCs to counter two interrelated conditions: the costs of enrolling in higher education are prohibitively expensive; and unmet demand for good-quality higher learning persists worldwide.

In short, it can be said that on-line learning opportunities (MOOC) have grown globally in recent years and offer a great improving line in higher education, using the capacities of the students to offer pedagogic support to learn from each other and turning classrooms and university centers into learning communities in which students learn from their differences under a teacher’s guidance.

For these reasons, the current university teaching has a powerful weapon through the massive open online courses (MOOC) and should reflect on teaching in effective digital competence students.

Keywords:

New strategies, open education, massive open online courses, collaborative learning.