UK Open University FutureLearn MOOC

UK Open University FutureLearn MOOC

by Marcus Green -
Number of replies: 1
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There has been considerable publicity in the UK today for the announcement of the Open Universities plans for the launch of its Futurelearn free online courses.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/dec/14/top-uk-universities-launch-free-online-courses

These are pitched as competition for the much hyped US MOOC concept. My view is that it can all be summed up as

"Build it and they will come.  But only twice, then it will be tumbleweed city as 98% never come back again."  

Perhaps I shouldn't be so dismissive as that 2% could be a large number of people and more open access to learning is a good thing TM.

However the concept does seem to be based on brochureware at the moment and I had a heartsink moment when I read that the big cheese 

"Simon Nelson was an early pioneer in taking media brands and content online"

This was before a career in management consultancy and phone sanitising. Does anyone have any solid information on this, or perhaps some wildly biased opinions?

 

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In reply to Marcus Green

Re: UK Open University FutureLearn MOOC

by Tim Hunt -
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Well, who knows if it will actually work? MOOCs may just be a flash in the pan, or they may end up having a transformative effect on education, making more good quality learning available to more people who could not previously afford it.

Speaking personally, I am very please that the OU is giving it a go. Given that we have previously built the OU VLE, and OpenLearn, one assumes that this will be another Moodle site, and that it is well within our capabilities to build and deploy.

Whether MOOCs work is something that the global education community will have to learn. It seems to me that the only way to learn that is to apply Moodle's pedagogy. We have to learn this by trying to do it, and I am really glad that the OU has decided to actively participate in the doing and learning, even though doing so is something of a risk.

 

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