Last fall, Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok, two econ professors from George Mason University, launched MRUniversity, a MOOC platform that brings economics courses to the larger world.

Here’s something I can get pretty jazzed about. Er, maybe that’s not quite the right verb. But close enough….
On May 13, the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester will launch the first of two MOOCs that will trace the history of rock music.

On Tuesday, we gave you a Visualization of the Big Problem for MOOCs, which comes down to this: low completion rates. To be clear, the completion rates aren’t so much a problem for you; they’re more a problem for the MOOC providers and their business models. But let’s not get bogged down in that.

MOOCs — they’re getting a lot of hype, in part because they promise so much, and in part because you hear about students signing up for these courses in massive numbers. 60,000 signed up for Duke’s Introduction to Astronomy on Coursera. 28,500 registered for Introduction to Solid State Chemistry on edX.

Tina Seelig serves as the Executive Director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, a center that teaches students entrepreneurial skills needed to solve major world problems.

Back in November we gave you a heads up on A Beginner’s Guide to Irrational Behavior, a MOOC being created by Dan Ariely.

In advance of its May 2013 concert series, Carnegie Hall has created a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) that will teach students how to listen to orchestras.

Back in 2009, Harvard political philosopher Michael Sandel made his course, Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?, available on the web for free (YouTube - iTunes - Web). Suddenly lifelong learners around the world had access to a popular course enjoyed by more than 14,000 Harvard students over 30 years.

I’ll confess, when it comes to computers, I’m pretty much strictly a user. And these days, with the potential freedom and creatively afforded by open access software, the endless hacks for virtually everything, and the availability of free online computer classes, that seems like kind of a lame admission.

edX announced today what looks like a promising new open course — Introduction to Biology: The Secret of Life. Hosted by professor Eric Lander, one of the leaders of the Human Genome Project, this course will give students a grounding in “topics taught in the MIT introductory biology courses and many biology courses across the world.