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The MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching (JOLT) have published a special issue on MOOCs which is now available online.
JOLT is a peer-reviewed, open-access, online publication that aims to promote scholarship in the use of the Internet and web-based multimedia resources in higher education.
Their current special issue on MOOCs includes research papers and case studies from experts within the field. All papers can be accessed for free in HTML or PDF format.
You can find the full contents here. 

On 20 August, at the opening session of the International Policy Forum on Literacy and Life Skills Education for Vulnerable Youth through Community Learning Centres in Jakarta, the second Global Report on Adult Learning and Education (GRALE) was launched, partnering with the Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education (ASPBAE) and the International Council for Adult Education (ICAE).
Focusing on the report’s strategy to rethinking literacy, Deputy Director of UIL Ms Carol Medel-Añonuevo underlined the need to clarify learning concepts and build capacities. Additionally, panellists placed adult learning as the centrepiece of the post-2015 sustainable development agenda, and emphasized the importance of national qualifications frameworks, engagement of civil society, and ultimately, budgetary commitment of governments.
Following the initial launch, Ms Medel-Añonuevo appeared on Indonesian national television station TVRI on 22 August to field questions about GRALE as well as UNESCO priorities on gender equality and youth.

The Institute of International Cooperation of the German Adult Education Association, dvv international, launched the second edition of the Global Report for Adult Learning and Education (GRALE) in cooperation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) and International Council for Adult Education (ICAE).
Entitled Rethinking Literacy, the second GRALE was launched along the sidelines of the 7th ICAE Academy for Lifelong Learning Advocacy (IALLA) course which is being implemented by dvv international and ICAE for the first time in Jordan and the region. More...

By Ellis Booker. Universities investing in massive open online courses face an uncertain payoff.
Massive open online courses are proliferating, despite the many unanswered questions about how they will pay off for their creators.
According to a curated list compiled by TechnoDuet, there are nearly 40 MOOC providers worldwide today.
Another resource documenting this growth is the MOOC Map, an interactive visualization showing the geographic spread of MOOCs from six providers (Coursera, Instructure, Blackboard, edX, FutureLearn and Open2Study).
The fastest-growing purveyor, Coursera, now claims 4 million students across four continents and 83 college partners. Read more...

By Geoff Cain. I read an article this week that I found via Stephen Downe's blog that is from the eLearning Africa News Portal called "The Underlying Inequality of MOOCs" by Alicia Mitchell. The main issue that Mitchell has with MOOCs is an old argument against all online education: the "digital divide." Unlike the education writers of the 1990s, she looks at the issues of poverty and connectivity and says that we have to be mindful that not everyone has access or the same means and skills that those of us in more privileged parts of the world may have. I do not argue that there is not a digital divide, I just don't think stopping online learning is a great solution to that problem. She does not make the leap that many have in the past with a "therefore," online learning is not viable or should be curtailed etc. I actually agree with her and my "therefore" is that, broadly, we need to continue to work for economic justice and universal education.  Africa is a hot bed of online learning, open education resources, and innovation specifically because of the problems discussed in her article. And my more focused "therefore" is say this is exactly why we need a MOOC to help students "learn how to learn." That is what we were getting at when we created "DE 101" - an free, two-week, fully online orientation to online learning. That was in a "traditional" online course format. The one I am working on here at Humboldt State University will be a MOOC called "eLearning 101." Read more...

By Sylvia Moessinger. Hello and welcome back to another part of the “MOOC around the world” series. Some of you might have a sense of déjà vu, but this is not a repetition of my other five parts, but indeed the sixth part of my MOOC journey. I know it’s like a never-ending story, but MOOCs mushroom faster than I can write and more parts might follow.
For those who just joined the MOOC marathon, my original goal was to explore all the MOOC resources outside of the best-known platforms in the United States (Coursera, edX and Udacity) to draw attention to less familiar opportunities, both in English and in other languages. Here is a short review of the previous legs of the journey.
Starting in Germany, I traveled through several European countries including the U.K., Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Portugal (part 1 and part 2). Then I embarked for distant shores, trying to identify all the MOOCs in Australia, India and South America (part 3). In part 4 of my voyage, I toured through Canada, which is where MOOCs were originated by educators George Siemens and Stephen Downes. I also took a a quick dash through the U.S. to look at open courses on less-familiar platforms, and in part 5 I sampled some of the entirely “independent” MOOCs in the U.S. not offered in a platform at all. Read more...