1 . MOOC, an open online course, aims at providing interactive discussion and open access via the web. In addition to _________ course materials such as videos, readings, and problem sets, MOOC provide interactive user forums that help build a _________ for the students, professors, and teaching assistants.

MOOCs _________ made waves in the fall of 2011, when Professor Sebastian Thrun from Stanford University opened his graduate-level artificial intelligence course up to any student anywhere, and 160,000 students in more than 190 countries _________. This new kind of online classes is _________ the higher education world in many ways. Since the courses can be taken by hundreds of thousands of students at the same time, the number of universities might _________ greatly. Professor Thrun has even _________ a future in which there will only need to be 10 universities in the world. Perhaps the most _________ thing about MOOCs, many of which are being taught by professors at prestigious (声誉高的) universities, is that they’re free. This is certainly good news for _________ students.

There is a lot of __________ and fear about MOOCs. While some say free online courses are a great way to increase the __________ of minority students, others have said they will leave many students __________. Some critics have said that MOOCs encourage an unrealistic universal __________ of higher education and that there is no replacement for true dialogues between __________and their students. __________, a brain is not a computer. We are not __________ hard drives waiting to be filled with data. People learn from people they __________ and remember the things that arouse emotion. Some __________ worry that online students will miss out on the social aspects of college. In other words, MOOCs __________social interaction among students and professors even if they are offered by professors from __________ universities.

3 . Online education has grown fast over the past ten years. The explosion of technology has made teaching outside the traditional classroom possible for teachers and has provided learners with easy access to course materials. Its attractiveness, benefits, and challenges are addressed.

In April, 2005, I was approached by a student who was interested in our doctoral program. However, the first question out of her mouth was, “Do you offer any online courses?” Later that day, as I was reading the conference program guide trying for interesting presentations, I noticed many workshops on web-based learning and online education. I later attended two of those workshops and met several professors from different universities who had either taught online courses for quite some time or who were discovering the best practice for teaching online. These experiences helped me realize at least to some extent the degree of growth in online education.

My responsibilities for the term included gaining more understanding of online education. Consequently, I made several attempts to enrich my knowledge of distance learning and online teaching. I consulted with my colleagues who were teaching online courses. This helped me recognize the importance of getting materials prepared even before the start of a term. I also learned that online courses may consume more time than regular classroom teaching. And I attended several workshops regarding online education and established a network with those who were involved in online programs at other universities. I will consider these people as my consultants as I begin to design my own online course. Also, I conducted a brief survey with 15 students and two faculty members who had taken or taught an online course before to understand their experience. Eventually I completed a literature review which gave me the foundation and the background of understanding the need for online education.