Announcing edX: Harvard/MIT Free Online Courses

The courses offered through edx will incorporate video lessons, online quizzes, and real-time feedback. Students will receive a certificates of mastery for their efforts. In recent years, there has been a massive groundswell in online learning—enabled by high-speed Internet connections, ubiquitous computers, and back-end technology like cloud computing. Edx is just the latest—and most prestigious—endorsement of that phenomenon.

It's interesting to see technology being used to make teaching more efficient. But platforms like edx could also help institutions such as MIT and Harvard identify and nurture the smartest students from anywhere in the world. _MIT Technology Review

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edX Press Conference

Not wanting to be left behind by Stanford and MIT, Harvard is rushing to join the free online course revolution.

A high quality online education can never be free. The amount of time and effort a student must put into the project of gaining a difficult, life-changing learning experience can be a daunting challenge and expense to that student.

Courses, quizzes, lab simulations, feedback -- and even certificates of mastery -- are not enough. Most students will also need tutoring and remedial education, in order to take full advantage of what is being offered.