Sep 17, 2014 10:31 AM EDT By J Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

Next month, Oakwood University in Alabama will become the first historically black institution to develop a massive open online course (MOOC).

"Understanding World Religions: An Occupational Approach" is the product of innovation-focused collaboration between Oakwood University and the Center for Excellence in Distance Learning at Wiley College, which promotes greater sharing of resources and best practices in online education among the HBCU community.

Although MOOCs have been shaking up higher education since 2012 by offering free courses to students anywhere in the world, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have been notably absent from MOOC platforms, Inside Higher Ed reported.

"On behalf of all the members of the Center for Excellence in Distance Learning at Wiley College, we are proud to be standard-bearers for educational innovation in the HBCU community with the introduction of its first massive open online course," Dr. Haywood L. Strickland, president and CEO of Wiley College. "We recognize the substantial contributions of Canvas Network in providing a superior platform that will make Dr. Burton's MOOC and scholarship freely available to students across the globe."

Many have hailed MOOCs as an affordable alternative to traditional higher education studies, but these courses have been viewed largely as educational experiments and luxuries with little relevance to students served by a majority of HBCUs.

"By spearheading the creation of the first HBCU-developed MOOC, we intend to claim a place for our students and institutions on the MOOC landscape," said Dr. Kim Long, director of the Center for Excellence in Distance Learning at Wiley College. "The Center uses open educational resources (OER) to lower costs for students and improve engagement in the more than 40 online courses we now support, including Dr. Burton's MOOC. The Center's five institutional members are taking advantage of these resources in new and creative ways to serve the needs of HBCU students."

In late 2012, Alcorn State and Morgan State University announced plans to develop free MOOCs, but those plans appear not to have come to fruition.

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