Billy’s story: MOOCs, CYC and storytelling

Yuan and Powell (2013) describe Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) as a relatively recent online learning phenomenon which has been developed for a mixture of philanthropic and business motives. The potential of MOOCs has prompted a number of universities to set up open learning platforms and provide courses online. In the UK, the Open University created Futurelearn, a partnership involving a number of leading UK universities, providing a number of open, online courses at no cost to learners (Futurelearn, 2012). The University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, subsequently joined this partnership. This article outlines the process of developing Strathclyde’s fourth MOOC, Caring for Vulnerable Children, its relationship with our MSc in Child and Youth Care Studies by distance learning and explores some of the challenges and opportunities in teaching child and youth care in a completely online environment.