The Department for Business Innovation and Skills have published a literature review of MOOCS and other online distance learning courses.

The report, ‘the maturing of the MOOC’ was published this month and is drawn from a review of over one hundred recent literature contributions, these include research publications, informed online commentary and expert reviews.   It aims to provide an overview of the current status of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and other forms of online distance learning and identify important and potentially controversial issues relating to these types of courses.  It concludes with recommendations for policy development.  

The report summary contains the following headlines:

• Conflicting perspectives on MOOCS divide education communities.
• Learning practitioners disagree about the value of MOOCS.
• Formal comprehensive analyses of MOOCs mostly agree that they are disruptive and possibly threatening to current HE models.
• Reporting of MOOC learner experiences is positive.
• The MOOC is maturing and engaging with business and accreditation issues.

The full report is available to download via the BIS website.