Bridging MOOCs, Smart Teaching, and AI: A Decade of Evolution Toward a Unified Pedagogy

-- Over the past decade, higher education ha s evolved through three distinct paradigms: the emergence of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), the integration of Smart Teaching technologies into classrooms, and the rise of AI - enhanced learning . Each paradigm is intended to address specific challenges in traditional education: MOOCs enable ubiquitous access to learning resources; Smart Teaching supports real - time interaction with data - driven insights; and generative AI offers personalized feedback and on - demand content generation. However, the se paradigms are often implemented in isol ation due to the ir disparate technological origins and policy - driven adoption . This paper examines the origins, strengths, and limitations of each paradigm, and advocates a unified pedagogical perspective that synthesizes their complementary affordances. W e propose a three - layer instructional framework that combines the scalability of MOOCs, the responsiveness of Smart Teaching, and the adaptivity of AI . To demonstrate its feasibility, we present a curriculum design for a project - based course . The findings highlight the framework's potential to enhance learner engagement, support instructors, and enable personalized yet scalable learning. T he landscape of higher education h as undergone multiple waves of digital transformation over the past decade .