The anecdotal evidence is it is the educated, the technically literate, those who are comfortable in an online environment, those whose jobs involve(d) processing information. They are people who have time to fill or those who see a benefit in adding a MOOC to their CV or Continuing Professional Development (CPD) file and will make the time. The sort of people who might like to, actually, or aspire to travel.
The MOOC is a kind of virtual tourism with commitment. Many start on the journey but less than 50% are committed enough to go the whole distance. It is demanding. Going over land to foreign parts, but not to exotic destinations. This is a tour of the worlds ivory towers, of Harvard and Yale. This is a Grand Tour for fast improvement, less than six weeks each stop. To get a sample, a sniff of what it must be like to be one of the elite, to study at an elite university and, yes, get a certificate with a paragraph of disclaimers at the bottom. Perhaps the MOOC equivalent of getting a stamp on your passport.
The cultures we sample are the different varieties of academic domain, form critical theory to calculus. Our tour guides are the professors and teachers we meet along the way. The physical environments we can sample on Google Street view, or the virtual tour of the University Campus. Best of all in this tour party are our fellow passengers. very talkative, international full of ideas.
Its activity travel. Not for those who like to sit on the beach.
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