Open education is the newest trend in the education sector & India is a growing market for this kind of a platform. Simon Nelson, VC of Futurelearn tells Deebashree Mohanty how this platform only increases a student’s global presence
What is Futurelearn aboutIJ
We are a private company owned by The Open University, with the benefit of over 40 years of their experience in distance learning and online education. Our partners include over 20 of the best UK and international universities, as well as institutions with a huge archive of cultural and educational material, including the British Council, the British library, and the British Museum. We are also in talks with a few Indian institutions that we would like to participate. At Futurelearn we subscribe to the fact that open education can change the way we look at eduction and getting a career thereafter. It is the most ‘in’ thing in the education sector at the moment.
What is the purpose of this websiteIJ
At Futurelearn, we want to inspire learning for life. We offer a diverse selection of free, high quality online courses from some of the world’s leading universities and other outstanding cultural institutions. Our aim is to connect learners from all over the globe with high quality educators, and with each other. We believe learning should be an enjoyable, social experience, with plenty of opportunities to discuss what you’ve studied, in order to make fresh discoveries and form new ideas.
How have these courses been structuredIJ
Courses are delivered one step at a time, and are accessible on mobile, tablet and desktop, so you can fit learning around your life, rather than your life around learning.
Do you think there is scope of Open Education in IndiaIJ
The platform is proving to be very popular with Indian learners. India is our second biggest market (behind the UK) in terms of overall visits to courses by enrolled learners. Among the most popular courses for Indian learners are: The Secret Power of Brands, from the University of East Anglia, Begin Programming, from the University of Reading and Fairness and Nature, from the University of leeds
The choices indicate that many Indian learners are drawn to topics that could enhance career development and employability
Apart from technical courses what other readings will you be including this yearIJ
We have a selection group that decides the courses based on their popularity. Then we talk to the University regarding permission et al. Once that is in place we plan to go ahead and include that course on our website. For 2014, we will be focussing on Commerce and Business studies for the benefit of our students.
How do you receive feedback for your coursesIJ
The website is in beta and the courses we will be running this year — there are many more on the way — are all pilot courses. This allows us to shape and refine how it all works, using feedback and ideas from our learners. It is important to us to craft a high quality product which is tailored specifically to our learners’ needs, so we want to spend the time listening.
We also have huge expansion plans. Over the coming months, as we unveil new courses, we’ll be developing new features and evolving our offer. So, we're looking to our first learners to tell us about their experience of the site and suggest improvements. We include a 'Feedback' tab on the left of every page so that our users can tell us about their experience.
What are the career prospects of the websiteIJ
The prospects are huge. Employers these days are not only looking for a talented worker who is good at his/her own level. They want to hire a personality. Someone who is a complete package. The person should have working knowledge of every sphere. And that is what we will ensure at Futurelearn. The short-term courses will ensure that a candidate gets knowledge of many courses.