University of Southampton MOOCs: the how and why

Kate and I were very pleased to present a summary of Southampton’s progress with MOOCs and their impact within the classroom to FutureLearn’s Partner Advisory Group Event yesterday.

It was an honour (and a challenge!) to follow on from such inspirational and energetic speakers as Peter Horrocks, VC of the Open University, Simon Nelson the CEO of Futurelearn, Helena Gillespie Director of Teaching and Learning at UEA, and many others.

The key message from the day was that the web is already transforming all aspects of our lives and education is no exception. Forward thinking universities need to stop treating digital simply as online file storage and instead focus on harnessing its potential for social, collaborative learning on a global basis. Now the world’s 3rd largest MOOC provider, and recent winner of Best User Experience in the UXUK Awards, Futurelearn is well placed to drive this change. There are many exciting developments lined up for 2016 so watch this space!