This article illustrates the landscape-changing potential of the "disruptive innovation" taking place on the shores of the Charles River. Learning technologies now being used in the massive open online course (MOOC) movement, some suggest, will change the way people think about higher education. MOOCs are based on an open-networked learning pedagogy where participants are typically distributed and course materials are dispersed across the web. The new generation of MOOCs offered by MIT and Harvard (edX), are free to anyone with Internet access, feature interactive technology, open admissions, and provide the ability to teach tens of thousands of students at once. MIT/Harvard edX contends that these courses are as rigorous as their campus counterparts and offer exceptional instruction with the best of technology--including online interactive learning, automated assessment, and a credential of mastery for individuals successfully completing the courses. As higher education institutions move toward opening up their digital campuses worldwide, other converging forces are accelerating the transformation of the American higher education landscape--and it's happening at light speed.