MIT And Harvard Start New Online Education Partnership

Posted by Unknown on Wednesday May 2, 2012 @05:00AM from the students-everywhere-rejoice-as-blackboard-dies dept.

New submitter Lluc writes "MIT and Harvard have started a new online education partnership called edX, an 'open-source technology platform to deliver online courses.' They plan to offer classes starting in Fall 2012. Perhaps this nonprofit venture is a better method for online education than Udacity, the startup created by Stanford professors after their wildly successful free online course offerings." Fellow new submitter alexander_686 sent in a link to the edX FAQ, and adds: "Harvard and MIT are launching edX with 60 million dollars to offer 'low fee' online classes. No word yet on classes offered or who will be teaching. No college credit but certificates will be offered. ... I hope low cost means low cost. (Under $25). I have really enjoyed the Stanford University free online classes."

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Finally something good happens by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-02 05:43 · Score: 4, Interesting

With all the horrible things happening now in the online world SOPA/PIPA/CISPA this online education thing is a really positive development that makes me feel good about the future of humanity. I'm taking the first MITX course (6002x Circuits and Electronics). It's great to take a course that is REALLY HARD, as in you have to be comfortable with calculus and differential equations. Most online learning, with the exception of online learning that is computer science related, has been really basic up until now. I am hopeful that with the worldwide nature of these courses this is going to improve the lives of people everywhere.