The Guardian today has not got anything about online education but there is a promotion for their online discussion about university rankings. Editor Brand Dissonance occurs when there is a major mismatch between the apparent direction of the brand and the content opinions. There is still a series of negative opinions about the MOOC though meanwhile the Guardian is trying to move the readers to the online networks. Presumably some form of learning is possible through these networks. One day they might explain this in print.

Finding the original site, there is also an article - Tech Schools Dominate Rankings - showing that it is not just MIT going to the top position. Tech universities have done well including some fairly new ones based in Asia. I notice that the word "Technology" often appears in the name, outside the UK. Here the Polytechnic has appeared to vanish. Only Anglia attempted to hang on to it.

I wonder if it still happens that a discussion about online learning starts with someone stating that this is not about technology. It may turn out that online learning develops through sites where technology is assumed as part of the structure. The UK universities that are not involved in a #MOOC may have a good research reputation at the moment but miss out on some experience.

MIT have been putting free content online for a while. I'm not sure how these tables are worked out or how much to value them, but it would be interesting to see how online social media effect reputation. I am still trying to find some theory about content marketing. Any clues welcome.