UK Universities Forge Open Online Courses Alliance: FutureLearn Consortium Will Offer Uni-Branded MOOCs Starting Next Year | TechCrunch

"The dynamic online learning space is about to get a little more crowded, thanks to the arrival of another group of established learning institutions who are joining forces — or rather pooling resources — to get into the brave new world of MOOCs. What are MOOCs? The short answer is ‘massive open online courses’ — typically free, conducted online and open to anyone who wants to participate (for a more detailed discussion of MOOCs, read this and watch this). There are now enough of these MOOCs out there they even have their own listings/review startup service (called CourseTalk). Today’s news means even more MOOCs will be offered next year, as 12 UK universities are getting together to form a new company that will offer the online courses — under the brand name of FutureLearn Ltd. The universities are: Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, East Anglia, Exeter, King’s College London, Lancaster, Leeds,  Southampton, St Andrews and Warwick, along with UK distance-learning organization The Open University (OU). Several U.S. universities have already jumped aboard the MOOC mobile, including the likes of Harvard and MIT, and while FutureLearn’s partner universities are not the first UK universities to chase a slice of MOOC pie either — Edinburgh University, for example, joined the Coursera consortium in July — they appear to be the first such large group to set up a dedicated MOOC business located in the UK. Details of the course content that will be offered by FutureLearn are limited at this point, as the finer points of how this will all work are still being decided but the OU said FutureLearn will be open to students in the UK and the rest of the world ... Last month the OU announced it was repackaging its own course materials to work as apps – and presumably it’s that sort of technology expertise it will be bringing to the table at FutureLearn.  According to the players involved, FutureLearn will be an independent entity — but it will be majority owned by the OU, which is putting up the seed funding and providing the technology that will underpin the MOOCs (distance learning being the OU’s speciality)... Also yet to be determined: the business model. A spokesman for the OU/FutureLearn told TechCrunch there will “probably” be numerous models, depending on the course, with each university determining its own models — with possible examples being pay for certification/degree, or pay to take an invigilated exam in your local area, or some kind of subscription fee model..."