Leonard, White. Ph.D. says it’s the personal stories from students taking his massive open online course on medical neuroscience that are really important. A student with ALS took the course using a computer and an eye-tracking system to learn more about the physiology of his disease. Another, a medical student in Egypt, took the course to supplement his degree coursework. “MOOCs redefine what it means for a university to have impact,” he says.

“MOOCs redefine what it means for a university to have impact.”

On campus, White uses the videos filmed for his online course to “flip” his classroom, and encourages Duke students to enroll in the open, online version as well. Now, White is working to use the videos as an online resource for students at Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore. He’s also exploring ways content from his online course can be used to help start new medical schools in under-resourced parts of the world where faculty with specific subject-area expertise are in short supply.