From automatic feedback systems to MOOCs

The paper starts with a short overview of recent development in the MOOCs area. It discusses the role of feedforward and feedback control structures in automatic control. It points out that despite the relatively long history of the simplest and most frequently used PID control structures there is still huge space for their significant improvements accomplished by simple means. Then, making a parallel to the much more complex elearning, by examining a broad spectrum of different types and approaches of elearning up to the latest MOOCs courses, a similar role of appropriate feedforward and feedback control structures, as well as of their expected impact in automatizing learning processes is discussed. With respect to this, different forms and types of elearning ranging from the simple text based courses up to the newestMOOCs are analyzed and compared with equivalent engineering automatic control schemes. This comparison shows on high importance of automatic control in elearning courses.