Millions of people signed up to take a free class from the top research universities and Ivy League schools [1] in 2012, but some higher education leaders remain skeptical of these massive open online courses, the Huffington Post reports. MOOCs, as they’re known, have been around for a few years but really took off in 2012, as some of the most well-respected universities signed up to offer courses [2] through several different startups. They were met by students from around the globe flocking to take the classes [3]. edX, a non-profit MOOC operator from Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, saw 370,000 students enroll [4] this fall, the New York Times reported. Coursera, a for-profit venture started by Stanford University professor Andrew Ng, has reached more than 1.7 million students. At least 150,000 people have signed up with Udacity, another for-profit with ties to Stanford. Other MOOC startups include Udemy and Marginal Revolution University [5]…