The use of MOOCs in social enterprise education: an evaluation of a North-South collaborative FutureLearn program

This study contributes to the literature on technology and entrepreneurship education, and in particularly to the discussion on massive open online courses (MOOCs) in social enterprise education. Using the Freeth/Kirkpatrick's evaluation model, this paper examines the effectiveness of a social enterprise MOOC program – The FutureLearn (FL) Social Enterprise Program – created in a collaboration between Middlesex University, Living in Minca Ltd in London and the Jindal Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at O.P. Jindal Global University in Delhi, India. To date, there is no evidence of previous work evaluating the effectiveness of a MOOC in social enterprise education, particularly one designed in collaboration between institutions from the global North and South countries. Our findings revealed that the FutureLearn Social Enterprise Program was perceived as positive, and we identified evidence of changes in behavior, as well as, benefits and opportunities for both individuals and organizations. The results provide insights into alternative forms of collaboration for the creation and implementation of enterprise education courses, and specifically for collaborations in the design of social enterprise MOOC programs done between global North and South countries.