MOOC stands for Massive Open Online Course. It is a response to challenges faced by organizations and distributed learning. A MOOC provides open access to course materials, has a start and end date, and allows people to collaborate and discuss course topics in a structured way. It is participatory in that participants engage with the materials and each other rather than just completing assignments. A MOOC creates a distributed knowledge base through tools like blogs, videos and tags. It aims to promote lifelong learning by allowing independence and creating networks that can continue after the course ends.