An argument is presented that the quest for quality teaching and learning in MOOCs should not be limited to merely demonstrating that these innovative learning environments have the same levels of effectiveness as traditional educational approaches (e.g., classroom instruction), but rather that they can exactly go beyond current levels of impact. This will required a dramatic change in traditional research goals from those that are focusing on providing evidence of "what works" in higher education to educational design research goals that are focused on "how can we make this work and why does it have the effects that it does?"