The current stage of the human progress is characterized by the high dynamism and global changes in all aspects of human life. The societies currently pass through a deep process of transformations that requires a new understanding of the human phenomenon and revision of humanism, new social practices, and forms of education. Higher school needs to achieve a very important goal. It is to create contemporary education paradigm, which would be based on shift from one paradigm centered on the

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... rsity and teacher professional knowledge to a new one, which will be centered on the students and their needs in education. In this article, online education is observed as one of the ways of a new realization of humanism in educational practice. The author also analyzes the humanistic potential of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC), its advantages and disadvantages as far as examined the prospects of online education. In conclusion the author mentions that online education due to its main characteristics (openness, accessibility, freedom of choice) is based on human rights and the principles of equality and could be identified as a new practice of humanism.