The Open University Business School (OUBS) is to be the first business school in Europe to offer credits for its courses through MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) on the FutureLearn social learning platform. The courses, starting on 15 August, will give learners the opportunity to earn 30 credits towards a BA Business Studies or 15 credits towards an MBA.
The suite of eight undergraduate courses (Business and Finance Fundamentals) and four postgraduate courses (Digital Economy) have been designed to address the changing aspects of business by academics who are recognised for their expertise in leadership, management and finance. The four week courses can be studied purely on mobile devices and incorporate a unique social learning function where ideas can be shared by learners for critique and feedback from the learning community on that course.
All MOOC courses are free at the point of study, so learners can experience online learning and build confidence before making a commitment to study (and therefore pay for) a degree, professional qualification or accredited Continued Professional Development (CPD) course.