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MOOCS AND MUSEUMS STUDIES EDUCATION: OPPORTUNITIES AND PROSPECTS IN THE DIGITAL ERA
In present time Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are becoming more popular. Initially, the
concept of “MOOCs” was used in the USA in 2008. Since 2011 they have become mass phenomenon
in a result of development of Coursera in Stanford University. Since 2013 MOOCs have widespread.
The USA plays a leading role in MOOCs application, where more than 15 platforms (Coursera, EdX,
Udacity, MIT Open Courseware, etc.) are developed. European countries have their own platforms
too, such as FutureLern (GreatBritain), Iversity (Germany), Crypt4you (Spain), OpenUpED (European
Community), Lektorium and Stepic (Russia), etc. Most of leading countries in Asia develop their
platforms, such as XuetangX and Chinese MOOCs (China), EduKart (India), as well as OpenLearning
(Australia). Such disciplines as physics, computer science, mathematics, natural science, etc. are
presented generally at MOOCs platforms. At the same time humanitarian and social science
disciplines (linguistics, history, physiology, art, etc.) are not widespread. Recently, museum studies
have been presented at MOOCs platform too. The purpose of the given paper is to analyze museum
studies presented at MOOCs platforms. The following aspects are studied in the paper:
• the quantity of platforms and MOOCs in museum studies;• the main presented questions at
these MOOCs;
• the advantages and disadvantages of MOOCs in museum studies;
• the possibilities and outlook of their application.
The books and papers for Massive Open Online Courses, as well as developed MOOCs in museums
studies are used as data for this paper.