Impact of MOOCs on Regional Differences in Higher Education in China

The rapid development of China's economy has brought about profound changes in higher education, which has moved from elitism to massification and even popularization. The field of higher education has always been the focus of all sectors of society. Under the influence of regional economic development level, natural geographical location and other factors, regional differences in the field of higher education are becoming increasingly prominent. As a new means of education technology, MOOCs also provide a new thinking mode for narrowing regional differences in education. Focusing on the field of higher education in China, through literature analysis, firstly, this paper clarifies the development process and mode of MOOCs; secondly, it sorts out the existing regional differences in Chinese higher education; finally, according to the characteristics of MOOCs, it discusses the promoting role of MOOCs in closing regional differences in China's higher education from four aspects, namely, economic perspective, open universities, high-quality educational resources and teacher cultivation, and criticizes them. Keywords—MOOCs; higher education; regional differences