E-learn Weblog of Willem van Valkenburg

Currently we talk mostly about xMOOCs. Donald Clark has created a new taxonomy of 8 different types of MOOCs. This taxonomy is based on pedagogy instead of from a institutional perspective:

• transferMOOCs
  Transfer MOOCs literally take existing courses and decant them into a MOOC platform. The pedagogic assumption is that of transfer from teacher and course content to learner.
  
• madeMOOCs
  Made MOOCs tend to more innovative in their use of video, avoiding talking heads in favour of Khan Academy or Udacity hand on board sequences.
  
• synchMOOCs
  Synchronous MOOCs have a fixed start date, tend to have fixed deadlines for assignments and assessments and a clear end date.
  
• asynchMOOCs
  Asynchronous MOOCs have no or frequent start dates, tend to have no or looser deadlines for assignments and assessments and no final end date.
  
• adaptiveMOOCs
  Adaptive MOOCs use adaptive algorithms to present personalised learning experiences, based on dynamic assessment and data gathering on the course and courses. They rely on networks of pre-requisites and take learners on different, personalised paths through the content.
  
• groupMOOCs
  Group MOOCs start with small, collaborative groups of students. The aim is to increase student retention. The groups are software selected by geography, ability and type.
  
• connectivistMOOCS
  These connectivist MOOCs rely on the connections across a network rather than pre-defined content.
  
• miniMOOCSs
  We have also seen the emergence of shorter MOOCs for content and skills that do not require such long timescales. This is more typical of commercial e-learning courses, which tend to be more intense experiences that last for hours and days, not weeks.
  

I think this is good addition for the discussion about MOOCs. Probably more types will evolve in time.