Humanities & Social Sciences 7 (2016 9) 1631-1636 ~ ~ ~ УДК 32.019.51 Soft Power of Massive Open Online Courses: New Age of Digital Diplomacy Mikhail S. Bukhtoyarov* Siberian Federal University 79 Svobodny, Krasnoyarsk, 660041, Russia Received 26.03.2016, received in revised form 19.04.2016, accepted 25.05.2016 The article addresses the issue of massive open online courses (MOOCs) which are based on the topics of humanities, social sciences and liberal arts. <...> Such courses target at the global audience and they can be efficient in dissemination of knowledge worldwide. <...> Such courses have the capability of becoming a powerful tool for the emerging digital diplomacy. <...> MOOCs can significantly increase the soft power of a political actor: state or non-state. <...> Massive open online courses Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are a rapidly evolving phenomenon within the growing domain of the online education market. <...> Among educational professionals there are ongoing debates on the problems of “openness” and “massiveness” and the effectiveness of such courses. <...> In 2012-2015 several global MOOC projects were founded either by top-ranked universities or by IT companies in cooperation with such universities. <...> In the span of five years MOOC have become one of the popular trends in online learning. <...> Initially MOOCs drew a lot of public and media attention and were Mikhail S. Bukhtoyarov. <...> Soft Power of Massive Open Online Courses: New Age of Digital Diplomacy even called “revolution in higher education” (Friedman, 2013). <...> However, the unprecedented media attention and the high levels of public interest in the topic have revealed the potential of the open online education as the means of knowledge dissemination. <...> It also may be interpreted as the growing need for such public educational media. <...> Audience of MOOCs The audience of MOOCs is diverse and global. <...> MOOC providers cannot compete with the most popular social networks, but they count millions of users worldwide. <...> However this audience possesses a number of characteristic features which are defined by the “nature” of MOOCs: • age limit (13+ for most courses), • high level of literacy and, particularly, media literacy, • self-management skills, • motivation for learning, • interest in alternative types of education <...>