Ulyana Zakharova – Candidate of Sciences in Philology, Head of Science and Methodology Department, Institute of Distance Education, National Research Tomsk State University. E-mail: uzakharova@hse.ru

Kristina Tanasenko – Career Advisor, Institute of Distance Education, National Research Tomsk State University. E-mail: tanasenko@ido.tsu.ru

Address: 36 Lenina Ave, 623049 Tomsk, Russian Federation.

The article explores the advantages and pitfalls of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) as reported by participants of professional development programs on creating and using online courses sponsored by the Institute of Distance Education of Tomsk State University during a brainstorming session within one of the programs and during communication in a nonpublic online course forum within the other. It is established that instructors see MOOC advantages in the opportunity to provide better organization of the learning process and additional study materials, higher education accessibility and academic mobility, realization of instructors’ career and personal goals, and resource efficiency. MOOC pitfalls are associated by the participants with pedagogical imperfection of the format, special requirements for the education system, resource intensiveness, and career risks for instructors.