2013年5月3日上午，CMB北京办事处集合中山大学，协和医学院，北京大学医学院以及复旦大学四所国内院校CMB办公室联络官举行电话会议，讨论如何借鉴MOOC平台在国内院校开展网络课程教育的议题。
MOOC是指大型开放式网络课程（massive open online courses）。从2012年5月起，哈佛和麻省理工投资3000万美金建立了edX网络课程平台，供学生免费使用，目前有67.5万学生注册，他们的目标是达到10亿用户量。这些网络课程通常安排最好的教师来上课，学生可以通过网络免费修读。
CMB北京办事处拟将中山大学、协和医学院、北京大学医学部以及复旦大学作为首批试点院校，开展网络课程教育计划，首选开课是公共卫生领域。
会议还讨论计划在今年下半年派专家组团去美国哈佛等有关知名大学，学习和调研MOOC开展情况。开展大型开放式网络课程目前已得到教育部和卫生部的领导认可，并表示积极支持该项目在国内实施。
该项目需要青年学者参与，作为项目联络人，欢迎有兴趣者的志愿者前来报名。报名方式，发送邮件至cmb@fudan.edu.cn
随文附上MOOC以及edX英文简介：
MOOCs, or Massive Open Online Courses, are classes that are taught online to large number of students. “Massive” refers to the number of participants, which can easily have thousands of students engaged in the course. “Open” means that the software used is open source; registration for the course is open to anyone for free; the curriculum is open; the sources of information (textbooks, other resources) are open; and the assessment processes (tests, homework and problem sets) are open. MOOCs are not just lectures posted online, but instead offer interactive short video lectures, graded assignments, and final examinations. MOOCs differ from online or distance education because they are free and most cannot be taken for academic credit. While many MOOC platforms have emerged around the world, some of the leading models include:
edX is a nonprofit effort run jointly by Harvard and MIT, which each invested 30 million USD to launch the platform in May 2012. edX has already over 675,000 students, and aims to educate one billion over the next decade. Students can earn a certificate for successful completion of a course, but no credit (yet). For some courses, students can also pay a fee to take a proctored exam, which results in a certificate noting that they completed the exam. edX has yet to develop a sustainable business model; however, it continues to expand. It plans to reach into Europe and Asia with a “X University Consortium.” As a nonprofit, it also plans to give away the software platform it is building to offer the free courses, so that anyone can use it to run MOOCs. edX is also interested in utilizing the data from its courses to research the efficacy of online learning and make improvements to education. It currently offers some health-related courses (biostatistics, biology, environmental health, etc.) and plans to put all five of its school of public health core requirements on edX.