A growing phenomenon in higher education is the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). MOOCs have garnered increasing attention over the past several years, spurring curiosity, controversy, and debate. While some aspects of MOOCs, such as participant experience and improvement of the online learning environment, have been covered extensively, other areas such as administrative decision-making, design and pedagogy, and alternative uses are less frequently discussed. This single case study sought to address gaps in the existing body of research, particularly the administrative decisions involved in offering a MOOC, the instructional design process, and the instructor experience. The project covers a 32-month period and explores one university's decision to offer a MOOC, its choices related to course content, design decisions in selecting and developing activities, and the instructor's activity and role in facilitating the MOOC. Important data derive from project documentation and records, interviews, direct observation, and course artifacts. The findings create a unique view into why and how the university created and offered a MOOC. The original motivation for creating a MOOC centered on attracting new enrollments into the university's degree plans, but new interests and initiatives emerged as the university became more ingrained in the open learning movement. The opportunity to learn more about design, pedagogy, and instructional technology became apparent. By designing and developing the MOOC, the university learned more about its existing design approaches and incorporated these lessons into its processes. Little was gleaned from the facilitation perspective because of low participation, but the experience informed decision-making about scheduling faculty and managing the instructional process. This study makes important contributions to MOOC literature in the areas of administrative decision-making, instructional design, and pedagogy. It also offers insight into the growing interest in open learning within for-profit higher education and alternative uses for MOOCs and other forms of open, online learning. The future success of open learning initiatives at the university remains to be seen, but the situation provides fertile ground for further study and offers a research perspective for other institutions that are questioning the value of offering open online courses, massive or otherwise. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]