The British Library, the national library of the UK, has announced its intention to join the UK's Mooc platform, FutureLearn Ltd., offering participants of its online courses access to the Library's digitised resources. The Library will be the first non-university research institution to join the initiative, and is among five university partners announced during a major business and skills mission to India with the Prime Minister.
The launch of the FutureLearn Mooc (or 'Massive open on-line course') stems from the growth of online degree-style courses in the US, where companies such as edX and Coursera offer around 230 Moocs to more than 3 million students. The first ever UK Mooc, FutureLearn, was launched by the Open University last December and includes partnerships with 18 UK universities.
Existing Library digital resources will be made available on FutureLearn, complementing plans for large-scale participation in online lectures and courses which are due to start later this year. The Library's freely available digital collections include over 800 medieval manuscripts, 40,000 19th century books and 50,000 sound recordings, and continue to grow each year.
The new offer led by the Open University will mean that Indian students can access online courses from their home in Mumbai or Delhi. Futurelearn is a multi-university platform for free, open, online courses. It is a private company majority owned by the Open University.
