Free Online Education Unwelcome In Minnesota

Posted by Soulskill on Friday October 19, 2012 @01:25AM from the are-you-familiar-with-the-internet dept.

An anonymous reader sends this quote from the Chronicle of Higher Education: "[Minnesota's] Office of Higher Education has informed the popular provider of massive open online courses, or MOOC's, that Coursera is unwelcome in the state because it never got permission to operate there. It's unclear how the law could be enforced when the content is freely available on the Web, but Coursera updated its Terms of Service to include the following caution: 'Notice for Minnesota Users: Coursera has been informed by the Minnesota Office of Higher Education that under Minnesota Statutes (136A.61 to 136A.71), a university cannot offer online courses to Minnesota residents unless the university has received authorization from the State of Minnesota to do so. If you are a resident of Minnesota, you agree that either (1) you will not take courses on Coursera, or (2) for each class that you take, the majority of work you do for the class will be done from outside the State of Minnesota.' Tricia Grimes, a policy analyst for the state's Office of Higher Education, said letters had been sent to all postsecondary institutions known to be offering courses in Minnesota."

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Re:State legislature, huh? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-19 01:32 · Score: 0, Troll

Pfft... MN is just implementing a new experimental hybrid based on Indian and Chinese government practices.
They're bringing multiculturalism to the classroom (or at least to the admin offices).
Seriously. Fuck these government corporate suckasses and the their School Superintendent lackeys.