Massive Open Online Courses: what will be their legacy?

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) dominated discussions of online learning and higher education in the news media and in universities between 2012 and 2015. However, fashions pass, needs change and technology evolves. This Commentary looks back, pauses on the present, and then looks forward. Whilst MOOCs are a significant milestone on the road that online teaching and learning is following, open, distance and online learning started long before MOOCs and will continue to grow in importance when MOOCs are just an interesting footnote in its development.