The world is atwitter over the newest initiative in online education: MOOCs (massive open online courses). Since The Chronicle of Higher Education first explored the MOOC phenomenon in August 2010, MOOCs have evolved from a "small but growing push toward 'open teaching"' into what New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman has called a "revolution" in higher education. The business case for MOOCs seems pretty straightforward. All but the most strongly branded and fiscally comfortable American colleges face the daunting trio of future global economic instability, pressure from parents to lower tuition prices, and duress from the federal government over student loan debt. Most colleges are "cash and carry" institutions, meaning that the vast majority of their revenue comes from tuition dollars.
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机译：全世界都对在线教育的最新倡议感到厌恶：MOOC（大规模开放式在线课程）。自《高等教育纪事》于2010年8月首次探讨MOOC现象以来，MOOC的发展已从“小但不断向“开放式教学”迈进”发展为纽约时报专栏作家托马斯·弗里德曼（Thomas L. Friedman）所谓的高等教育“革命” 。 MOOC的业务案例似乎非常简单。除了品牌最强大和财务上最舒适的美国大学以外，其他所有大学都面临着未来全球经济不稳定的严峻三重挑战，父母要求降低学费价格的压力，以及联邦政府对学生贷款债务的胁迫。大多数大学都是“现金和携带”机构，这意味着它们的大部分收入来自学费。
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