All a bit brave new world, but the numbers signing up suggest there's traction:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/nov/11/online-free-learning-end-of-university
Plus if Sebastian Thrun is willing to give up work on Google's self-driving cars and Google Glass's augmented reality - two of the hottest topics in the world right now - you have to think something might be brewing.
Anyway, I'm keen to see what the standard of courses are so have signed up for a few at Coursera (which to me look like they have the best courses right now):
https://www.coursera.org/course/innovativeideas
https://www.coursera.org/course/GTG
https://www.coursera.org/course/gamification
Let me know if anyone else joins up for any of the above as always good to compare notes!
Can't see any of it being free for that long - maybe a year or two? - so might as well enjoy what looks like first-class education for no outlay :)
Ed
I was thinking about this the other week, and I agree, most definitely the traditional education system would have to adapt if more people took their courses online (and the accreditations from online courses carried weight). Though for me, the credits don't matter... I'm just learning for industr-related stuff, but someone fresh out of school would want the qualification piece of paper.
I signed up the social network analysis one but didn't bother doing the assignments. I'll take a copy of the coursework & read up on it when I can.
Surely there will always be room for universities though, if not for their research arms and 'practical' learning.
OTOH, online courses leading to jobs would be massive, particularly if the costs are kept low. That would be amazing for developing countries especially.
Astonishing numbers of people involved!
It does mean that as a race, the best will be found more easily, the innovators allowed in innovate regardless of the country they life in, given a high entry level of wealth required still.
For the comfortable west, does this mean competition is up again? And if you are not a hugh corporation, then making money will be a step more difficult again?
so is it an enabler, or will it make the divide wider?
I am loving all this free education.
Started looking at coursera recent from another post here and I signed up for that network analysis course. But couldn't get to grips with it. Found it too Boring and realised I would never be any good at it so left it for cleverer people to do so I could hire them when I need :P
But that innovative ideas course sounds more up my street so hopefully I will be more engaged in the course.
Does anybody know if there is a credentialed degree (AS, BA, BS) offered online yet? It would be a nice alternative for those who couldn't afford to go the traditional route.
The guy who started it all:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelnoer/2012/11/02/one-man-one-computer-10-million-students-how-khan-academy-is-reinventing-education/
and the lecture that started it all:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTFEUsudhfs
Ed
Saw this yesterday and was going to post about the Khan Academy. Substantial backing from Bill Gates and huge user base at this point.
The problem for all of these is United States, and to a greater extent Europe... and to an even great extent India, are all increasingly credentialized. The goal of a university education is not to learn skills, but to obtain a credential. So for educational efforts like this to replace universities, it will require deep cultural shifts in terms of how employees on a broad scale are hired and promoted.
Even if you look at Google (an example of a mega corp that is known for innovative hiring procedures), they are ultimately just like most places. No degree, no job right?
We may be seeing a decoupling of education and credential, but for now the credential still trumps the education.
It looks like coursera are already on the case in regards to 'normalised' accreditation
http://blog.coursera.org/post/35647313909/american-council-on-education-to-evaluate-credit