I concur to some degree with your points about data journalism--which are highlighted by the relatively few good examples that are out there. (OTOH, a lot of journalism also legitimately involves getting out from behind a desk, talking with people, and writing in paper notebooks.)<p>&gt;There&#x27;s no reason why MOOCs can&#x27;t be effective in the humanities. I think the problem is that there&#x27;s much less overlap between those who are skilled at teaching, say, history and those who are skilled at creating good online courses.<p>One fundamental question is what a MOOC can bring to a literature or a history class and I&#x27;m not sure I have a good answer. It&#x27;s certainly not interaction with my peers--given the interaction mechanisms don&#x27;t scale and there&#x27;s such a wide disparity of background. It&#x27;s not interaction with the professor; that certainly doesn&#x27;t scale. It&#x27;s not peer grading. It&#x27;s not powerpoints. It&#x27;s not video of a professor on a webcam. It&#x27;s not multiple choice questions.<p>Is it engaging video&#x2F;multimedia&#x2F;high quality lecture? Well, maybe but how is this now different from a quality PBS or History Channel series (or iTunes University or one of those Great Courses DVDs you can order)? Broadcast is a solved problem. Want to learn about the Civil War? Watch the Ken Burns series.