Susan Meisenhelder, the former president of the California Faculty Association and an active member of the faculty-led and MOOC-wary Campaign for the Future of Higher Education, said she is encouraged by what she sees as a slowing in pro-MOOC rhetoric.

“We’re just relieved, because of the scale of this thing, because of the scale of MOOCs themselves, because of the scale of the frenzy around this,” Meisenhelder said. “Many of our folks thought we were going to do serious damage to a generation of students by just throwing them into MOOCs and feeling like we’ve done them a favor — we’re hoping the conversation can now be a more grounded one.”