What Does It Mean to MOOC Yourself?
The world of online education has undergone a radical transformation over the past decade, and at the heart of that transformation lies the MOOC — the Massive Open Online Course. Once the exclusive domain of elite universities and well-funded tech companies, the MOOC model has gradually democratized to the point where almost anyone with knowledge worth sharing and the motivation to share it can build one. That idea — that you can "MOOC yourself" — is both a provocative invitation and a practical reality, made more accessible thanks to pioneering educators like Inge Ignatia de Waard.
De Waard, drawing on her direct experience with MobiMOOC — a series of free, open online courses focused on mobile learning — published an eBook titled MOOC YourSelf: Set Up Your Own MOOC for Business, Non-Profits, and Informal Communities. Released under a Creative Commons CC BY-SA license, the book is itself a demonstration of the very principles it teaches: openness, accessibility, and the belief that knowledge should flow freely between people regardless of institutional barriers.
Understanding the MOOC Model
Before diving into how you can build your own MOOC, it helps to understand what exactly a MOOC is and why the format has proven so powerful. A Massive Open Online Course is, at its core, a gathering of participants who come together around a shared subject or challenge, guided by structured content but connected through conversation, collaboration, and community. The "massive" element refers not necessarily to thousands of enrollees, but to the scalability of the model — a MOOC can serve five participants or five thousand without fundamentally changing its design.
The "open" dimension is perhaps the most philosophically significant. Unlike traditional courses that sit behind institutional paywalls, MOOCs are typically free to access and often built on openly licensed materials. This openness invites learners from all walks of life, all geographies, and all professional backgrounds to participate on equal footing. The result is a richness of perspective that no single classroom could ever replicate.
Why Businesses and Non-Profits Should Consider MOOCs
De Waard's eBook is particularly notable because it shifts the MOOC conversation away from academia and toward practical, real-world applications. Businesses, non-profits, and informal communities have a great deal to gain from launching their own MOOCs, and the barriers to doing so are far lower than most people assume.
For businesses, a MOOC can serve as a powerful tool for employee onboarding, professional development, and knowledge management. Rather than relying on expensive external training providers or static PDF manuals, organizations can build living, evolving learning environments that reflect their culture and priorities. A well-designed MOOC also signals thought leadership, positioning a company as a credible educator within its industry.
Non-profits stand to benefit even more directly. Mission-driven organizations are typically resource-constrained but rich in specialized knowledge. A MOOC allows them to scale their impact without scaling their budget, reaching volunteers, donors, community partners, and beneficiaries with consistent, high-quality learning content. The CC BY-SA license that de Waard chose for her own eBook is emblematic of this spirit: share freely, attribute openly, and build on what others have created.
Mobile Learning and the MobiMOOC Legacy
The MobiMOOC project that inspired de Waard's eBook was specifically focused on mobile learning — the practice of delivering educational content through smartphones, tablets, and other portable devices. This focus was forward-thinking at the time and is even more relevant today, given that mobile devices now account for the majority of internet access worldwide.
Designing a MOOC with mobile learners in mind introduces a set of practical considerations that many course designers overlook. Content should be chunked into short, digestible segments that can be consumed on a commute or during a lunch break. Video should be optimized for smaller screens and slower data connections. Discussion forums and collaborative tools should function smoothly on mobile browsers and native apps. These design choices are not merely technical preferences — they determine whether learners from lower-income backgrounds, rural areas, or developing countries can actually access and benefit from your course.
Key Principles for Setting Up Your Own MOOC
Whether you draw directly from de Waard's eBook or develop your own framework, there are several foundational principles that should guide any MOOC creation effort.
- Define your community first. A MOOC without a clear audience is a broadcast looking for listeners. Start by identifying who you want to reach, what they already know, what they need to learn, and how they prefer to engage with content and each other.
- Embrace openness by design. Use open-source platforms where possible, license your content for reuse, and remove every unnecessary barrier between curious learners and your material. The more freely your content can travel, the greater its impact.
- Build for conversation, not just consumption. The most successful MOOCs are not video lecture libraries with a quiz at the end. They are communities of practice where participants bring their own experiences, challenge each other's assumptions, and co-create understanding.
- Iterate based on participant feedback. One of the great advantages of the MOOC format is its flexibility. Unlike a printed textbook, a MOOC can be updated in real time. Treat each cohort as a pilot and use what you learn to improve the experience for the next group.
- Keep the facilitator visible but not dominant. Good MOOC facilitation is more like tending a garden than delivering a lecture. The facilitator creates conditions for growth, intervenes when necessary, and celebrates what participants produce together.
Getting Started: Tools and Resources
The practical infrastructure for running a MOOC has never been more accessible. Platforms like Moodle, Canvas, and Google Classroom offer free or low-cost hosting for structured course content. Community discussion can happen on dedicated forums, social media groups, or tools like Slack and Discord. Live sessions can be hosted via Zoom, Google Meet, or any number of video conferencing platforms. For those interested specifically in mobile-first delivery, platforms like EdApp are designed from the ground up around smartphone usability.
De Waard's eBook, still available under its Creative Commons license, remains a practical starting point for anyone embarking on this journey. It demystifies the technical and pedagogical challenges of MOOC design while remaining grounded in the real-world experience of someone who built and ran mobile learning courses for global audiences.
The Bigger Picture: Open Education as a Movement
The story of MobiMOOC and the "MOOC Yourself" philosophy sits within a broader movement toward open education — a movement that believes learning is a human right, not a commercial transaction. Every organization that builds a free, thoughtfully designed MOOC contributes to a more educated, more connected, and more equitable world. That is an ambitious goal, but as de Waard's work demonstrates, it begins with a single course, a single community, and a genuine desire to share what you know.
If you have knowledge worth sharing, the tools are available, the frameworks exist, and the audience is waiting. There has never been a better time to MOOC yourself.