Harvard and M.I.T. Offer Free Online Courses - NYTimes.com - 2 views
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Harvard and M.I.T. have a rival — they are not the only elite universities planning to offer free massively open online courses, or MOOCs, as they are known. This month, Stanford, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan announced their partnership with a new commercial company, Coursera, with $16 million in venture capital.
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The technology for online education, with video lesson segments, embedded quizzes, immediate feedback and student-paced learning, is evolving so quickly that those in the new ventures say the offerings are still experimental.
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M.I.T. and Harvard officials said they would use the new online platform not just to build a global community of online learners, but also to research teaching methods and technologies.
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I think that Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Princeton, UP, and Michigan have a great idea in establishing these free online courses. When such high level courses are provided online and for free, there really is no excuse not to pursue greater knowledge. The only ingredient not provided is self-motivation. After both sites, Coursera seems to be developing much more rapidly then edX. Coursera is constantly updating their site with new courses. Also, after sifting through a few of the courses offered, I noticed that many teachers are willing to stream some online students in through video conferencing. These online students can virtually interact with their counterparts in the classroom at the given elite university. In other words, the intimate relationship found through interacting with other students and professors in a classroom setting is not completely lost.