The article presents the results of exploring the purposes of using digital tools to support student learning at universities. This comprises some identified types of digital tools and the frequency of their use by academic staff, which varies due to their level of digital literacy. Then the collected data is provided concerning the numbers of academic staff using basic electronic communication methods. The above data were collected in Polish and Czech universities and later compared to each other. The presented study was conducted over the period 2015–2016 within the IRNet project – International research network for study and development of new tools and methods for advanced pedagogical science in the field of ICT instruments, e-learning and intercultural competences in Poland (University of Silesia, Faculty of Ethnology and Educational Science in Cieszyn) and the Czech Republic (University of Ostrava, Pedagogical Faculty). The undertaken research was aimed at recognizing academic teachers’ activities concerning their support in university students’ learning process.

Although at first MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) did not use peer reviews, this kind of assessment has increasingly demonstrated the benefits that it can contribute to this type of course by improving the learning process, increasing decisions making abilities, and developing several other academic skills. Other MOOC assessment instruments do not provide students with these opportunities. This paper discusses the results obtained by the most commonly used massive online course platforms, detailing their features and limitations, as well as the experience in the implementation and use of a peer review system for a course of more than 7300 students. This study also comments on how evaluation rubrics are created, along with the final results, and the impact of the inclusion of this type of evaluation in MOOC.

MOOC is one of the forthcoming challenges of global higher education system. Development of education system cannot be considered without global trends. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) become more and more popular. Article focuses on analysis of case studies of the most important xMOOCs providers: Coursera, edX. Authors focuses their analysis on direction of the development of xMOOCs in higher education as well as on key barriers for further development of the model.