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This paper provides an introduction to the special collection. It presents a summary of the last decade in relation to research on MOOCs and describes the FutureLearn Academic Network (FLAN), which brought together FutureLearn partners for sharing and research purposes. Using this lens, research on MOOCs over the period is reviewed in terms of topic, in terms of the themes explored at different points in the last decade and in terms of the changes in focus of the MOOC platforms. The paper concludes by summarising the papers published in this special collection.

In a New York Times article, Pappano (2012) declared 2012 as ‘the year of the MOOC’. It was a year which saw a surge in interest in this new, open form of online higher education. While the initial hype around Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) subsided and their form has changed significantly from the first large-scale courses, more learners than ever are registered with the platforms, which have attracted substantial levels of investment. In this special collection, we bring together articles published in the Journal of Interactive Media in Education over the past ten years, which have focused upon MOOCs from a diverse range of research perspectives. First, we provide an overview of major events and trends in relation to MOOCs over the past ten years. We then take a closer look at the 25 papers published in JIME and included in the virtual special collection, arranged in relation to four main themes, including: situating MOOCs; learning design and roles; MOOCs and languages; and accessibility and inclusion.