23 January 2012

"Free Online Higher Education as a Force for Human Progress"

MITx is the next big step in the open-educational-resources movement that MIT helped start in 2001, when it began putting its course lecture notes, videos, and exams online, where anyone in the world could use them at no cost. The project exceeded all expectations—more than 100 million unique visitors have accessed the courses so far.

...Now MIT has decided to put the two together—free content and sophisticated online pedagogy­—and add a third, crucial ingredient: credentials. Beginning this spring, students will be able to take free, online courses offered through the MITx initiative. If they prove they've learned the materi­al, MITx will, for a small fee, give them a credential certifying as much.

...The Internet is a very different environment than the traditional on-campus classroom. Students and employers are rightly wary of the quality of online courses. And even if the courses are great, they have limited value without some kind of credential to back them up. It's not enough to learn something—you have to be able to prove to other people that you've learned it.

...Already, the elite Indian Institutes of Technology has announced plans to join MIT's open-education consortium. Building MITx on an open platform could make the university the global nexus of online higher education, which is the way most people are likely to access higher learning in the future. In the hunt for the best and brightest students around the globe, MIT won't need to guess who's in the top 1 percent of 1 percent—it can simply pick them out of the millions of students who will enroll in MITx. _Chronicle Higher Education
Not everyone can single-handedly use freely available materials in a way to master difficult material. Many people will need assistance with sticky concepts and mental blocks at certain points in particular courses. This need for additional coaching and tutoring will open the door to private coaching -- both personal and online, both for-profit and non-profit. An entire new industry is likely to arise to help facilitate the online education revolution that MITx is helping to spawn.

H/T Carpe Diem

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3 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

In doing this, MIT has cracked one of the fundamental problems retarding the growth of free online higher education as a force for human progress. The (Classes Online)Internet is a very different environment than the traditional on-campus classroom.

Tuesday, 03 April, 2012  
Blogger Knowpronto said...

In this post discuss the point about education progress .For educational progress needs additional coaching and tutoring will open the door to private coaching -- both personal and online.Thanks for sharing.....

Friday, 13 July, 2012  
Blogger charlesgraves said...

If you are thinking about online education courses, you may be quite shocked to find the increasing number of courses and programs that are currently being offered. Completing an online program is something that can potentially change your life.Discover the benefits of gaining an online education when compared with traditional education. Read more for more info.

Monday, 24 September, 2012  

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