I’ve been analyzing a number of MOOC’s and enrolled in the “Fundamentals of Online Teaching” MOOC. It was a bit of a train wreck. Debbie Morrison outlines a good analysis of some of the problems in “The MOOC Honeymoon is Over: Three Takeaways from the Coursera Calamity” (http://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2013/02/05/the-mooc-honeymoon-is-over-three-takeaways-from-the-coursera-calamity/ )
I particularly agree with her second point that “ Sound instructional design is the key to supporting self-directed learning experiences.” Yes. Good references and a link to Steven Downes Facilitating a Massive Open Online Course (2012).