Harvard Open Source Courseware

mpawlo writes "Gnuheter reports that the Berkman Center for Internet and Society releases the H20 courseware software as open source. Two years and 1 million USD are invested in the software so far... The software has been tested at Harvard Law School, but should be suitable for other disciplines than law."

Comments

Steal My MSFT-Approved Edu Biz Plan, Add H20

[fruscica]

Hello all. I'm Frank Ruscica, founder of The Opportunity Services Group, a startup provider of lifelong learning and career services. Not long ago our business plan was circulated internally at Microsoft. Soon after, I received the following email from Randy Hinrichs, Manager of Microsoft Research's Learning Sciences and Technology Group:

"Frank, you are a good man. Have you thought about joining this team? Your only alternative, of course, is venture capital. But their usual models require getting rid of the 'originator' within the first eighteen months. With Netscape it took a little longer, but you get the idea."

An updated version of our business plan is now online at www.opportunityservices.com.

Why?

"An American invasion of Iraq is already being used as a recruitment tool by Al Qaeda and other groups," a senior American counterintelligence official said recently, "And it is a very effective tool." So the months and years ahead may be a dangerous time for coalition troops and corresponding civilian populations.

How dangerous depends in no small part on we civilians.

As the counterintelligence official makes plain, a big part of winning the war on terrorism is convincing potential terrorist recruits and supporters that their interests are being served by America and her allies. People are at their most convinced when they are psychologically addicted. Psychological addiction takes shape in the part of the brain called the nucleus accumbens, which is fired by the prospects of professional success, romance and laughs.

By definition, providers of lifelong learning and career services (LLCS) will focus on increasing their clients' professional success. In particular, providers will race to develop and fund their own student loan programs, as most customers will need financing in order to consume their initial bundle of LLCS, and will be drawn to the provider offering the best loan package. These loan programs will, in time, democratize access to LLCS -- and hence, expand prospects of professional success to all who might otherwise become terrorist recruits or supporters.

Credibly sustainable providers will also enable their clients to enjoy more romance and laughs (see opportunityservices.com for details).

Turbocharging maturation of the LLCS market, then, should be a big part of how we civilians support our troops and fight the war on terrorism at home.

Let's Roll (out LLCS startups)! :^)

Mod me back up! We're fightin' terrorism here!

[fruscica]

I concede my post is off-topic, strictly speaking. But we gotta get movin' on the LLCS front!

Are you not aware that people are dying all over the place these days!?

Focus, my (wo)man, focus...

Re:Not full courseware

[56ker]

We have a new project similar to that - called SPIDER which lets students view their academic records.

H20 is awesome!

[rnd()]

I'm never reading Slashdot again!

Rotisserie

[jakob_grimm]

Mmmm.... rotisserie. /drool