Cumulative Growth in Number of MOOCs, 2011-17

The number of massive open online courses, or MOOCs, offered worldwide grew by more than 2,000 in the past academic year. The nature of MOOCs is changing, with more courses being self-paced, instead of starting and ending on specific dates, and more sitting at least partly behind a paywall. Courses may require payment for completion certificates, credits, grading of assignments, and test taking.

Return to the Almanac home page, or go to the Profession, Students, Finance, or States section. To purchase a copy of the Almanac in print or as a downloadable interactive PDF, visit the Chronicle Store.

Note: The number of massive open online courses is tracked by Class Central, a search engine for online courses and MOOCs. Each course is counted only once, no matter how many times it was offered. Both short-term courses and those following a traditional semester-long model are counted. Courses from selected international MOOC providers like XuetangX (China), FUN (France), Miríada X (Spain), and MéxicoX are included in the data except for the first half of 2017. Figures from international sources were unavailable for that time period. More data on MOOCs are available at https://www.class-central.com/report/mooc-stats-2016.

Source: Class Central