West Virginia University says it will join a growing number of major public universities in offering massive open online courses, called MOOCS, intended to broaden the university's educational reach.

The university said it plans to offer the courses through Coursera, a platform already used by a number of major universities. A complete list of institutions working with Coursera can be found at www.coursera.org.

In a statement, WVU said its MOOCs initially will be free, non-credit courses in areas the school has identified as "Mountains of Excellence," including radio astronomy, public health and science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The courses likely will debut next spring, and eventually WVU might utilize content for credit courses.

First Published: May 31, 2013, 3:00 a.m.