In and Out. Federica Experience in the Rugged Terrain of MOOCs Inclusion in Institutional Strategies of University Education

MOOCs are increasing their role in vocational training in the American market, also as a result of the synergy between large universities and leading corporate players in the accreditation of online courses. In Europe, most universities seem to be caught in between two competing strategies. Either they produce a limited number of MOOCs, distributed through the big American providers and mainly aimed at the international market. Or they try to design MOOCs to be integrated into their own curricular courses, a complex administrative undertaking in light of internal resistance and loopholes. This paper describes the attempt at Federica.eu, the largest Italian MOOC provider and one of the largest single-university platforms in Europe, to combine both strategies in a sustainable educational model.