The British Library and UK Universities Launch FutureLearn MOOC Platform (Beta)

Note: We first posted about FutureLearn on February 18, 2013 when The British Library became the first non-university institution to join the project.
From Today’s Launch Announcement:

FutureLearn, the first UK-led provider of massive open online courses (MOOCs), is from today offering learners around the world access to free, high quality courses from its internationally renowned university partners.
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FutureLearn is wholly owned by The Open University. The new website combines the best elements of the social web with The Open University’s 44 years of expertise in distance and open learning.
The FutureLearn website opens today as an open beta, which will run until early 2014. Learners will be able to sign up for a selection of courses from FutureLearn’s university partners, with learner feedback used to inform the ongoing development of the website. So far learners from over 165 countries have registered their interest in taking a course on FutureLearn.
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FutureLearn will be also be piloting paid-for statements of accomplishment and real world exams at local test centres later this year.

List of Pilot Courses, Registration Now Open

A list of pilot courses from 20 of FutureLearn’s partner institutions is available for learners to sign up for now, with eight scheduled to begin between October and December this year:

• Begin Programming: Build Your First Mobile Game, from Reading University
• England in the Time of King Richard III, from Leicester University
• Fairness And Nature: When Worlds Collide, from Leeds University
• The Mind Is Flat: The Shocking Shallowness of Human Psychology, from Warwick University
• Improving Your Image: Dental Photography in Practice, from Birmingham University
• Introduction To Ecosystems, from The Open University
• The Secret Power of Brands, from University Of East Anglia
• Web Science: How the Web is Changing the World, from Southampton University

Courses will be added from the University of Bristol and FutureLearn’s international partners, Monash University and Trinity College Dublin, at a later date.

Other non-university partners include the British Museum and British Council.
Read the Complete Announcement
Notes “Course Creator and Analytics Dashboard” and “Record of “Learning” Features
Direct to Course and Registration Info
Direct to Complete List of Partners

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