As MOOCs have continued to grow in popularity, discussions have moved to where the platforms can go next, and whether they will transition from short courses that favor people with a simple curiosity to learn things, towards the kind of courses that can help people learn marketable skills throughout their adult life.
A sign of the progress being made came from the UK based MOOC platform FutureLearn, which recently announced the launch of an online undergraduate degree, which will be delivered via the University of Newcastle in Australia.
The three year, full-time degree will begin in February 2019, with online students learning alongside their campus-based peers. Indeed, the campus-based students will also have the option to choose online versions of modules where available.
Try before you buy
The course will adopt FutureLearn’s try before you buy approach whereby students are allowed to try the first modules in each course for free. The idea is that this will allow students to gauge whether the course is right for them, and hopefully ensure completion rates are high.
“There’s no doubt that higher education institutions are earnestly responding to the needs of a changing world, where people demand the ability to learn as they live. Education is being designed to suit people’s busy lives, and the fast pace of change in both industry and society,” FutureLearn say. “We’re passionate about working with our university partners to meet these challenges, so together we help individuals anywhere gain access to the highest quality education and use our social learning platform to have meaningful dialogue with a diverse community of learners. We are delighted to welcome the University of Newcastle Australia as our first partner offering online undergraduate degrees on our platform. This is a great addition to our portfolio and we are excited about what the future holds for us, Newcastle, and our learners.”
Students will have the option of a number of major and minor subjects, which will allow them to study courses in English and Writing, Film, Media and Culture, History, Sociology and Anthropology alongside the core subjects for the Bachelor of Arts course. The first semester will consist of six programs across four disciplines, including film, history and English. Each of the first three week courses of the program will be free for people to try before they commit further.
