Assembling pieces of the MOOCs jigsaw puzzle

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have captured the imagination of the current generation of academicians, educationalists and students. MOOCs are a path breaking new concept that havestormed the education world in the past two years although the foundation for the same was established in 2008 itself. Inspite of all the excitement and hype surrounding the MOOC phenomenon a number of doubts also exist parallel to the hype. In India the MOOC concept is still to catch on in the education scene with a number of academicians expressing their doubts over whether it will be a success or not. Research in MOOC technology is also becoming a potentially new area in education technology. However, many people are still unaware of the various aspects of MOOC technology. This paper is an eye opener that will describe the history, the various terminologies and technologies associated with the MOOC technology. We will outline the essential steps that have to be taken care of before developing a MOOC. The challenges and issues that are currently facing this new technology are discussed. Finally the paper will describe the various research areas that have potential which researchers can look into.