The growing demand for higher education across the educational landscape in different contexts is impacting research in innovative ideas that may potentially transform the higher education system for increased access and opportunities for quality and affordable education. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are recent additions in higher education, over the last few years, researchers have predicted MOOC’s potential to provide and increase access to quality education to an almost infinite number of people regardless of time, and location. Although MOOCs are not devoid of limitations, this paper argues that its affordances and immense potentials for scalability and flexibility make it the appropriate tool for the 21st-century transformation of the higher education system, especially in mitigating the challenges of enrolment into the Nigerian university education system.

Keywords

massive open online courses · MOOCs · higher education · open and quality education