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As edX emerges, MIT's new president reflects on the continued and evolving value of on-campus education.

The University of Texas system just decided to join the edX movement, with a $5 million dollar contribution. Gov. Rick Perry is trying to cap costs for a college education in Texas, so he approves of the measure...UT also seems closer than other schools to allowing students to get actual credit for the courses, as the article mentions they are considering tiered payments for classes.

The possibility for MOOC's to gain some legitimacy by offering credit through the administration of a fee-based exam.

There is an "uncollege" movement that encourages people to complete college degrees by pursuing self-study, then taking CLEP exams to gain college credits. The problem has always been that many higher-priced/name-brand colleges (e.g. Harvard) don't accept CLEP credits, requiring students to pay for credits the old-fashioned way. I wonder whether established schools will accept credits from MOOC courses.

"But it's become a serious problem. When we don't control our email habit, we are controlled by it. " - somewhat related to the YouTube by dr. Sherry Turkle. I read this article when it was published (working life totally controlled by email I must say).. and sadly I am still addicted...

MIT just appointed a new Director of Digital Learning. I guess edX and the impact of educational technology at MIT has become official and institutionalized--and probably not just a fad.

Hats off to MIT. I think they will reap huge benefits from putting an accomplished leader in charge of this endeavor. Not only does this appointment communicate how much value they place on digital learning, but it will likely lead to the development of a coherent vision, comprehensive strategy, and stream-lined effort to push MIT forward in the edtech scene. I haven't seen this same kind of commitment to edtech from Harvard. As HBS professor and author Clay Christensen so eloquently wrote, "you can talk all you want about having a strategy...but ultimately, this means nothing if you do not align those [strategies] with where you actually expend your time, money, and energy. In other words, how you allocate your resources is where the rubber meets the road."

Nice to hear business ppl taking consequence of education to the society seriously. Unfortunate all solutuions he suggest is about the money...

Websites are springing up that sort and collect reviews of MOOC courses. Meta-MOOC's essentially. Interesting how quickly an ecosystem can begin to develop around a new technology.

Wow, pretty interesting that Coursera is getting into this game. I always thought that was a strong suit of Udacity and one possible way for them to get sustainable revenue.

Berkman Center Video on the implications of integrating digital technologies into traditionally analog worlds in nature. How can they help and how can they distract?

interspersing online lectures with short tests improved student performance.

The DHL's Global Connectedness report is interesting. The pillar is composed of trade/capital/information/people. Total rank of connectedness: US 20th. Each page for country analysis is helpful to think about kind of education is required for each country's future growth. 

Program started by Microsoft engineer / Harvard Ed school graduate.

An interesting take on "Achievement Gap"

More than interesting. This challenges a basic premise of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Opinion article from Reynol Junco at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society on why most educational technology startups aren't that great...they don't base their products on research, proven pedagogy, or work with educators.

It does seem like there is a shift going on right now- more educators on start up teams and more interest in developing innovations from the educators themselves. That being said, the market continues to get flooded. I think in the long run this will be very good for teaching and learning, but I would not want to be an investor in this space.

I think that is great that more educators are getting on the teams...but yeah, there are a lot of very fragmented / disperse initiatives that make it hard to tell what will succeed or catch on.

relates to the 3 little pigs video I showed you

Gates funds edX to bring their courses/content to the community college setting. Is K-12 next?

Interesting point Harvey - thanks for weighing in! Per Clay Christensen, disruptive innovators often target the least desirable/most under-served segment of the market upon entry - the business that the established folks don't bother to pursue (think Southwest Airlines, etc). They then evolve up the value chain, ultimately displacing the large, established guys.

Chip, that's what makes this especially curious: it's the major players (Harvard, MIT, etc.) who are pursuing the least-served part of the market here - Christensen would argue that they are more like to pursue sustaining, not disruptive innovation! In essence, EdX is seeking to disrupt the teaching of entry-level, profit-generating classes at other schools, while possibly undermining their own teaching of the same topics. Should be interesting to see how it plays out.

Interesting article highlighting the importance of continuing translational research.

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