OER Knowledge CloudJournal ArticleIssue No.37 Experiences and best practices in and around MOOCs20142014/03Coffrin, CarletonHentenryck, Pascal VanUllmo, Pierre-AntoineKoskinen, Tapioproblem solving skillsMOOCdiscovery-based learningcomputer science educationSpaineLearning Paperselearningeuropa.infoEMOOCS 2014 conference37March 201451-561887-1542The practice of discrete optimization involves modeling and solving complex problems which have never been encountered before and for which no universal computational paradigm exists. Teaching such skills is challenging: students must learn not only the core technical skills, but also an ability to think creatively in order to select and adapt a paradigm to solve the problem at hand. This paper explores the question of whether the teaching of such creative skills translates to Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). It first describes a discovery-based learning methodology for teaching discrete optimization, which has been successful in the classroom for over fifteen years. It then evaluates the success of a MOOC version of the class via data analytics enabled by the wealth of information produced in the MOOC.yeshttp://openeducationeuropa.eu/en/article/The-Discrete-Optimization-MOOC%3A-An-Exploration-in-Discovery-Based-Learning?paper=136477http://openeducationeuropa.eu/en/article/The-Discrete-Optimization-MOOC%3A-An-Exploration-in-Discovery-Based-Learning?paper=136477From-field_37_2.pdfBarcelona, Spain