Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have been around, in one iteration or another, since 2006. In 2012, U-M joined the growing digital learning landscape, and Michigan Medicine was eager to try its hand. It’s been at it ever since.
Michigan Online currently offers 11 health-related MOOCs from Michigan Medicine produced in collaboration with the Office of Academic Innovation. Some, like the health sciences education and anatomy MOOCs have become enormous successes.
Rajesh Mangrulkar, the Medical School’s associate dean for medical student education, feels certain that MOOCs are a preview of more dynamic learning curricula to come. “I think people are going to be getting knowledge and information in a variety of different ways, including MOOCs,” he says. “The goal of the Medical School has to be about building on the knowledge in person, to develop the creative thinkers that we need to take that information and translate it into solutions.”
