This post is mostly notes to be returned to.

Guardian reasonable today in the Education pages with a long text from Clay Shirky. I can't see actual news about FutureLearn but it may be connected with the decision to repeat this blog post from November

http://www.shirky.com/weblog/2012/11/napster-udacity-and-the-academy/

I have found a blog from Ian Bogost, mentioned as suggesting MOOCs are marketing for "elite schools" .

http://www.bogost.com/blog/moocs_are_marketing.shtml

One thing strikes me from the comments

I wish that more instructors cared about quality. Too many just go with the proprietary text (rarely an open text) with little consideration of the price to students. The cost to students is one aspect of quality. An important one in my opinion that is all too often ignored by instructors who choose them. There are a growing number of excellent quality controlled open texts. Instructors should keep their eyes open. Like proprietary texts some of the open texts lack quality. If that is, the case then do like Peter and pick another one, but don't just presume that the costly text is better. Quite often it isn't. Also, there are growing open online open alternatives to texts. At least check the open texts out before stiffing the students for a high priced text that may be unnecessary.

Rory McGreal on July 18, 2012 2:32 PM

So this relates to the Knowledge Unlatched project on academic publishing based at the Work Foundation. The forms of content will alter with the structures.

"Can online education ever be education of the best sort?" question from Mark Edmundson quoted by Clay Shirky as "the issue of quality".

I sometimes find that quality management is not that welcome as a topic for academics. Quality can just mean leaving alone something already assumed to be a ok.

Meanwhile the EU is funding a series of meetings for people working on quality in HE.

http://www.eua.be/pqc

Can a formal quality system work with change? Depends on the nature of system review.

Is English the only language for a MOOC? Or is mooc a made up word for something that is happening anyway and may be called something else ?

Questions to return to.

I am now concentrating on emergency supplies of food in case the shops close down. But there may be some posts occasionally.

Bookseller tells me that the Guardian is launching free podcasts on a weekly basis. This would work as marketing for a weekly publication with the rest mostly online. I have done a Follow on Soundcvloud but no actual content at the moment.