Delivering free online courses: how open can we be?

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Episode 9: Delivering free online courses: how open can we be? (Duration: 21:05)

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In episode nine of JISC’s learning and teaching radio programme, we hear from some of those on the forefront of new approaches to online open learning. From open educational resources to massively open online courses (MOOCs) and beyond, we focus in particular on two free online photography courses based at Coventry University – speaking in depth to course leaders Jonathan Worth and Shaun Hides alongside other staff and students.

Kim Catcheside also interviews a range of expert commentators on open education: Martin Weller from the Open University, Allison Littlejohn from Glasgow Caledonian University and David Kernohan from JISC. This analysis puts the pioneering work of Coventry University into a historical and international context: in terms of the place of open education in academia, the initial experiments with connectivist courses in Canada and the recent growth of initiatives like Udacity and MITx.

For further information on JISC’s activity in this area visit:

Find out more about open educational resources with the JISC Open Educational Resources InfoKit

What is a MOOC? : Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are in the news currently, with MIT, Stanford and several private providers providing free, open online courses. Find out more about them by listening to a recording of our recent webbinar on MOOCs.

Edinburgh’s online course deal: University of Edinburgh’s vice principal shares why the university will now be offering their own online courses

Where there’s MOOC, there’s brass?: A JISC blog post that explores the possibility of MOOCs as a business model.

Or contact David Kernohan, programme manager for open educational resources.